A rebel group in Pakistan’s south-western Balochistan bombed a section of the railway track and stormed a train on Tuesday afternoon in the mountainous southwest, shows a video released by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the group behind rising violence in the province which borders Afghanistan and Iran.
More than 450 passengers were on board when the rebels captured the train at the entrance of a tunnel in a remote frontier district, with an unknown number of hostages still being held. Pakistan security forces have launched a “full-scale” operation to rescue train passengers.
The 1 minute 23 seconds of the grainy footage shows passengers huddled on the ground silhouetted against the mountain, with rebels, holding guns, keeping a watch over them.
Over the course of two days, Pakistani forces have managed to free 190 hostages from the besieged train.
Passengers freed on Tuesday described walking for hours through mountainous terrain to reach safety.
“I can’t find the words to describe how we managed to escape. It was terrifying,” Muhammad Bilal, who had been travelling with his mother on the Jafar Express train, told news agency AFP.
The assault was immediately claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army. The rebels have demanded an exchange with security forces for its imprisoned members.
Security forces have been battling a decades-long insurgency in impoverished Balochistan. Still, violence has soared in the western border regions with Afghanistan, from north to south, since the Taliban took back power in 2021.
The BLA claim the region’s natural resources are being exploited by outsiders and have increased attacks targeting Pakistanis from other regions.
The rebels launched coordinated overnight attacks last year that included taking control of a major highway and shooting dead travellers from other ethnic groups, stunning the country.
Punjabi and Sindhi labourers are regularly targeted in attacks, as well as security forces and foreign infrastructure projects.