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Insurgents of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) stopped a long-distance train in a rugged, mountainous area south of Quetta and took passengers hostage on Tuesday (March 11). In a statement, the BLA said they had killed 20 Pakistani Army personnel, shot down a military drone, and were holding 182 people hostage, Reuters reported on Tuesday evening.
Among the hostages were active-duty personnel of the Pak Army, the Inter-Services Intelligence, and Anti-Terrorism Force, the BLA said. As of early Wednesday, security forces said that 16 militants were killed and around 100 passengers rescued. Click here for live updates as the situation unfolds.
The nine-coach Jaffar Express, which was headed to Peshawar from Quetta, was targeted between Pehro Kunri and Gadalar in the Bolan area of Kachhi district, a Balochistan government spokesperson said. Armed men stopped the train with around 500 people on board in Tunnel No. 8, Controller Railways Muhammad Kashif said.
The train, named after Mir Jaffar Khan Jamali, a Baloch tribal leader who was close to Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, began running between the capital of Balochistan province and Rawalpindi more than 20 years ago. In 2017, the train was extended to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for a journey of more than 1,600 km, touching several important Pakistani cities along the way.
Operations of the train have been frequently impacted by the raging Baloch militancy. Services were suspended from August 26 to October 10 last year after a series of bombings by the BLA destroyed critical infrastructure, including a railway bridge on the train’s route.
In early November, 62 people were killed in a blast at Quetta railway station. The following month, services of the train were suspended again over security concerns.
The BLA are a Baloch ethnonationalist group who emerged in the early 2000s with the aim of achieving independence for Balochistan. Pakistan banned the organisation in 2006, and the United States designated it as a global terrorist organisation in 2019.
In its statement, the BLA said its “fidayeen” or suicide squad unit Majeed Brigade was leading Tuesday’s hijacking of the Jaffar Express.
The Majeed Brigade has been active since 2011, and has been involved in other strikes, including on a complex near Balochistan’s Gwadar port in March 2024, which resulted in the deaths of several security personnel and militants.
The BLA’s Special Tactical Operations Squad (STOS), Fatah Squad, and Zirab Units were also involved in Tuesday’s operation, the statement said.
Balochistan is the largest but least populated of Pakistan’s four provinces – Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It has substantial reserves of oil and gas, alongside gold and copper deposits, but has lagged in economic growth compared to other regions in the country.
Leaders of the ethnic Baloch minority have long blamed the central government for the region’s economic backwardness, as well as the stranglehold of Punjab over the country’s resources.
After Partition, Balochistan remained independent until March 1948 as part of a friendship treaty with the new state of Pakistan. The Khan of Kalat, the main tribal leader whose writ ran over much of the region, was keen to remain independent, but came under tremendous pressure to join Pakistan, including from his feudatories, the rulers of Makran, Las Bela, and Kharan.
He signed the instrument of accession, but the sentiment in favour of Baloch independence remained alive.
Tens of thousands of Baloch nationalists and civilians have been killed in the insurgency over the past decades. Pakistan has accused India of aiding the Baloch insurgent groups – an allegation that India has strongly denied.
Over the last several years, Baloch insurgents have targeted Chinese personnel and assets involved in the construction of infrastructure for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). In October 2024, two Chinese nationals were killed in a suicide bombing for which the BLA claimed responsibility. These attacks have been chalked up to a lack of faith in how these major infrastructure projects might benefit the local Baloch population.
