180 Passengers, Mostly Soldiers, Held Hostage As Rebels Hijack Train In Pakistan
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) which seeks independence for Balochistan from Pakistan in a statement said it took control of a train and kept over 180 passengers, most of them Pakistani soldiers, hostages. Several Pakistani military personnel were also killed, the BLA said.
The BLA gave 48 hours to the Pakistani government to release all Baloch political prisoners and "forcibly disappeared persons."
The Jaffar Express, with over 450 passengers on board in nine bogies, was on its way from Quetta in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when it was fired on, railway officials told news agency Reuters.
