Pakistan Passenger Train Hijacked, Rebel Group Claims Hundreds Of Hostages
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) which seeks independence for Balochistan from Pakistan in a statement said it took control of a train and kept hundreds of passengers hostage. Six Pakistani military personnel were also killed, the BLA said. The Jaffar Express, with over 400 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. The BLA in a statement signed by its spokesperson Jeeyand Baloch said the hostages will be killed if Pakistani forces launch an operation. The BLA fighters blew the railway tracks and forced the train to stop, after which they boarded it.
