Armed militants held hundreds of train passengers hostage on Tuesday in an ongoing siege claimed by a separatist group behind rising violence in southwestern Pakistan.
“Over 450 passengers onboard are being held hostage by gunmen,” Muhammad Kashif, a senior railway government official in Quetta, the capital of the province, told AFP.
“Passengers include women and children,” he added.
The attack was immediately claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) which is fighting for independence and accuses outsiders of profiting from the region’s wealth.
In a statement, it said gunmen bombed the railway track before storming aboard the train.
“The militants swiftly took control of the train and have taken all passengers hostage,” said the statement released to media.
The group “warned of severe consequences” if an attempt is made to rescue the hostages.
Pakistani sources who spoke to the media on condition of anonymity said an operation “to eliminate the terrorists is ongoing with extreme caution due to the difficult terrain”, adding that women and children are “being used as human shields”.
The incident happened around 1:00 pm (0800 GMT) in rural Sibi district, near to a city station where it had been due to stop.
“A passenger train called the Jaffar Express was stopped by armed militants,” said a senior government official in Sibi, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
“The passengers are being held hostage, and the driver has been injured.”
The train had left Quetta for Peshawar, in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — a more than 30-hour journey — at around 9:00 am.
A senior police official from the area bordering Sibi, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said that “the train remains stuck just before a tunnel surrounded by mountains”.
An emergency has been imposed at hospitals in Sibi, according to the government official.
