Armed militants are holding 35 people hostage after they attacked a passenger train in southwestern Pakistan, local police said.
The Jaffar Express train was on route from southwestern Balochistan province to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when militants opened fire on it, officials said on Tuesday.
Railway officials had previously reported that as many as 450 passengers had been taken hostage.
Local authorities said the train was trapped in a tunnel and the driver was badly wounded in the attack. They said nearly 350 other passengers were now believed to be safe.
Security forces said an explosion was heard near the tunnel and that they were exchanging fire with the militants in a mountainous area.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, and threatened to execute the hostages if the government attempted to intervene.
The separatist group said in a statement that security forces were among the hostages. The statement said BLA fighters had bombed the rail track before launching the attack.
The motivation behind the hijacking was not immediately clear.
In a follow-up statement, the militant group said it was holding 182 passengers, including army personnel.
“Civilian passengers, particularly women, children, the elderly, and Baloch citizens, have been released safely and given a secure route,” it said in a statement on Telegram.
Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack. “The beasts who fire on innocent passengers do not deserve any concessions.”
Balochistan has seen a surge in terrorist attacks over the past year. In November 2024, at least 26 people were killed and 62 others injured in a bomb blast at a railway station in Quetta.
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