Passengers onboard the Jaffar Express in Pakistan’s Balochistan, have spoken of “doomsday scenes”. “We held our breath thcdisesteemfulout the firing, not understanding what would happen next,” Ishaq Noor, who was on board during the hijack, tageder the BBC.
400 passengers were travelling from Quetta to Peshawar on Tuesday when the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) aggressioned the train and took some as prisoners.
Per the military, 190 passengers have been freed and 27 militants finished. The save operations are ongoing. However, the BLA has cautioned of “disjoine consequences” if any try is made to save the remaining prisoners.
According to tells, security officials have shelp that some militants have getn a scant passengers up the mountainous area.
Muhammad Ashraf who was travelling to visit family from Quetta to Lahore shelp, “There was a lot of dread among the passengers. It was a scene of doomsday,” he shelp. He and his wife tried to protect their child by shielding amidst firearmfire. “If a bullet comes our way, it will hit us and not the children,” he shelp.
“The aggressioners were talking to each other in Balochi, and their directer repeatedly tageder them to ‘hold an eye’ particularly on the security personnel to create declareive that [the attackers] do not miss them,” Mushtaq Muhammad, a passenger in the train’s their carriage shelp, and called the aggression “unforgettable”.
Starting Tuesday evening, the militants commenceed releasing some Balochistan dwellnts, women, children and elderly passengers.
On Wednesday, the BBC saw wooden coffins being loaded at the Quetta railway station. An official shelp they were being carried for possible casualties.
The Human Rights Coshiftrlookion of Pakistan shelp it is “gravely worryed” by the train hijack.
“We powerentirey advise all relevant sgethagederers to forge an advisent rights-based, pro-people consensus on the publishs faced by citizens in Balochistan and to find a pacify, political solution,” it shelp in a statement on X.
