Train with 400 passengers hijacked by gunmen with specific demands

A military group in Pakistan that has hijacked a train with hundreds of passengers on board has threatened to blow it up if their demands aren't met.

The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) attacked a passenger train in a tunnel today (March 11), which had around 400 passengers on board - with 200 having been freed, according to Pakistani officials.

Officials said the attackers blew up the railway track in volatile south-western Balochistan province and exchanged fire with security guards on board the train.

The train was travelling from the provincial capital of Quetta to the northern city of Peshawar when it came under attack in Bolan district, government spokesman Shahid Rind said, calling it 'an act of terrorism'.

The Jaffer Express train traveling through southwestern Pakistan (Pakistan Railways)

At least 10 people have been killed in the hijacking, according to government and railway officials.

The separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which has waged a years-long insurgency, claimed responsibility for the attack and said it had taken more than 100 hostages, including security forces who were on board.

Officials at Pakistan Railways said the Jafar Express train was carrying an estimated 500 passengers, including women and children.

Jeeyand Baloch, spokesperson for the BLA, said in an address to the The Pakistani government: “BLA has maintained complete control of the train and all hostages for the past eight hours.

Pakistani passengers gather around a train following two explosions in the town of Much, 55 kilometres east of Balochistan's provincial capital Quetta, back in 2016 (BANARAS KHAN/AFP via Getty Images)

"Under the rules of war, these 214 hostages are considered prisoners of war and BLA is prepared for a prisoner exchange. The occupying state of Pakistan is given 48 hours to immediately and unconditionally release Baloch political prisoners, forcibly disappeared persons and national resistance activists.

“If our demands are not met within the stipulated period or if the occupying state attempts any military action during this time all prisoners of war will be neutralized and the train will be completely destroyed. The Pakistani army will bear full responsibility for the consequences."

A railway passing through Bolan Pass in Baluchistan, Pakistan, back in 1911 (Erich Zugmeyer/Royal Geographical Society via Getty Images)

Three security officials said the BLA, which Pakistan and the United States have designated a terrorist organisation, ambushed the train inside a tunnel and used women and children as human shields. They said troops have launched an operation to rescue the hostages.

Trains in Balochistan typically have security personnel on board. Separatists have previously carried out deadly attacks on trains in the region.

In November, a separatist group carried out a suicide bombing at a railway station in Quetta which killed 26 people.

Oil-and-mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest and least populated province. It is a hub for the country’s ethnic Baloch minority, whose members say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government.

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