Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan’s security forces say that they have rescued 127 passengers from a train that was hijacked by a group of separatists as it was travelling on Tuesday from Quetta, the provincial capital of the southwestern province of Balochistan, to Peshawar, the capital of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Fighters belonging to the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group seeking Balochistan’s secession from Pakistan, have claimed responsibility for the attack.
Pakistani officials have described their continuing efforts as a “complex operation” against the group, which targeted the Jaffar Express train as it was passing through tunnels near Sibi city, about 160km (100 miles) from Quetta. Security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that they had killed 27 fighters. At least 10 passengers, including the train driver, have been killed, they said. Al Jazeera could not independently verify the casualty count provided by the officials.
But as the train carried more than 400 passengers, that would leave about 250 remaining hostages.
However, BLA fighters are also known to have released several passengers. Security officials confirmed that a group of passengers made their way safely to a smaller station near the site of the attack, as the military operation continues.
Military officials, working with the railways, have since brought these passengers to a larger station, Mach.
Here is what we know about the attack, the current situation and the background behind the decades-long conflict between separatist groups and the Pakistani state in Balochistan.
What happened to the Jaffar Express?
The train was carrying more than 400 passengers, including many women and children, as well as dozens of security personnel. The passenger manifest has 426 ticket holders, but it is unclear if all of them actually boarded.
The Jaffar Express departed from Quetta at 9am (04:00 GMT) on Tuesday morning, embarking on a journey of more than 1,600km (994 miles) through Punjab to reach its final destination in Peshawar. The trip takes roughly 30 hours, with stops at about 30 stations across the country.
Railway officials said the attack occurred at about 1pm (08:00 GMT) as the train passed through the rugged, mountainous Bolan Pass. The area is home to several tunnels originally constructed during British colonial rule.
Who carried out the attack and how has the government responded?
The BLA, which has carried out numerous attacks in the province over the past several years, claimed responsibility for the attack.
In a statement, the group claimed to have killed at least six military personnel and blown up the railway track, forcing the train to a halt. The BLA warned that any military operation in response would have “severe consequences”. The attackers claimed that passengers on the train were hostages, although dozens of passengers later reached Panir.
The Pakistani military has not so far issued an official statement regarding the claims, and it did not respond to queries from Al Jazeera.
Shahid Rind, a provincial government spokesperson, said authorities had imposed an emergency in hospitals in Sibi, the nearest city, placing all medical professionals there on alert to attend to any victims of the attack.
Government officials also strongly condemned the attack. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also said he was praying for the recovery of the injured.
“The beasts who fire on innocent passengers do not deserve any concessions,” Naqvi’s statement read.
What do we know about recovered passengers and casualties?
Rana Farrukh, a Pakistan Railways official in Quetta, said that nearly 70 passengers, including women, children and the elderly, first reached the Panir railway station, approximately 6km (4 miles) from the attack site.
“They completed the journey on foot, following the railway track,” Farrukh told Al Jazeera, without providing further details about the passengers.
After security forces reached the site of the attack, more than 50 other passengers were rescued, with a known figure of 127 passengers now safe and no longer on the train.
Pakistani officials then used a special freight train to move these passengers to the larger Mach station, situated 65km (40 miles) from Quetta and 90km (55 miles) from the area where the train was attacked. At Mach station, passengers were given food and first aid. The passengers will be brought to Quetta on Wednesday.
What are the BLA’s demands?
The BLA says it is still holding more than 200 captives on the train, most of them security personnel.
The group has given a 48-hour ultimatum to the state, demanding the “unconditional release of Baloch political prisoners, forcibly disappeared persons and national resistance activists”.
Neither the government nor the military has so far issued any official statement regarding the BLA’s demand.
Who has been killed?
Security sources said that so far, they have killed 27 BLA fighters.
In addition, they said, at least 10 passengers, including the train driver, had been killed by the attackers.
The condition of the rest of the passengers still on board the train with their captors is unclear.
Security sources claim the attackers are using women and children as human shields, preventing an all-out offensive against them.
How rare is this attack?
Baloch separatists have repeatedly targeted the Jaffar Express in the last few years. The train covers a distance of more than 1,600km (995 miles) on its route as it moves from the heartland of Punjab to Peshawar, the provincial capital of the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The train is commonly used by security personnel, mostly from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. The last major attack against the Jaffar Express took place in November last year when a suicide bomber detonated himself at Quetta’s train station as passengers prepared to depart.
The BLA also took responsibility for that attack, in which at least 30 people were killed.
In August 2024, attackers blew up part of a track in Balochistan, resulting in the suspension of the Jaffar Express for two months before services resumed in October. In January last year, the separatists exploded another bomb on the train’s route near the Bolan area, injuring at least 13 people.
Yet, this is the first time that Baloch fighters – or any armed group – has taken an entire train hostage in Pakistan.
Globally, too, train hijacks are rare.
Chinese bandits famously hijacked a luxury train in May 1923 for 37 days, holding at least 300 passengers travelling from Shanghai to Beijing hostage.
The Netherlands saw train hijackings in 1975 and 1977, when Moluccan nationalists targeted trains and held passengers.
In 2009, more than 300 Maoist rebels from India’s northeastern state hijacked a train as it travelled from the eastern state of West Bengal to New Delhi, the country’s capital.
Why have attacks in Balochistan surged?
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province by area but the least developed, with a population of 15 million people.
Despite being rich in minerals and natural resources, including copper and gas, the province has long been the site of conflict between the local population and the government.
Baloch separatists, who demand independence from Pakistan, accuse the state of abducting and persecuting those who speak out against it.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $62bn megadevelopment infrastructure project launched a decade ago, has added another layer of complexity to the conflict.
The BLA has carried out numerous attacks on Chinese interests, including at Gwadar Port, CPEC’s flagship project. Several Chinese citizens have been killed in these attacks.
In recent months, Balochistan has witnessed a dramatic surge in violence. Last month, at least 18 soldiers were killed in a BLA attack in Kalat city. Earlier in March, a female suicide bomber detonated herself, also in Kalat, killing a law enforcement officer.
How has the BLA enhanced its capabilities?
Analysts believe the BLA’s growing strength reflects the state’s failure to counter BLA fighters and its reliance on outdated strategies.
Malik Siraj Akbar, a Balochistan specialist based in Washington, DC, said the BLA has evolved from carrying out small attacks, such as targeting individuals or sabotaging pipelines, to large-scale operations.
“The group now undertakes major attacks, like the recent assault on a passenger train. This shift reflects both its increasing audacity and its confidence that the government lacks the capability to contain them, let alone pursue them effectively after such high-profile acts of terrorism,” Akbar told Al Jazeera.
Rafiullah Kakar, a political analyst specialising in Balochistan affairs, said the BLA has strengthened its command structure, giving fighters in the field more direct control over operations.
“Additionally, access to advanced weaponry, some of which was left behind by US forces in Afghanistan, has enhanced the group’s firepower, making their attacks more lethal and sophisticated,” Kakar told Al Jazeera.
Why has the state failed to curb the BLA’s rise?
In January, the Islamabad-based think tank Pak Institute For Peace Studies (PIPS) warned that the situation in Balochistan was “alarming”. Its report noted a 119 percent increase in attacks, with more than 150 incidents recorded last year.
The state announced plans for a major military campaign in Balochistan, but it has yet to materialise.
However, Akbar says that in the aftermath of such attacks, the state has repeatedly launched military operations – but those crackdowns often targeted innocent Baloch civilians without evidence linking them to the BLA or the armed rebellion.
“The government seems more concerned with optics than justice, considering its job done once it parades a few dead bodies on camera, claiming swift retaliation,” he said.
He also argued that the military was at a disadvantage in retaliating against fighters in Balochistan.
“The BLA has superior knowledge of the terrain, whereas security forces, who mostly come from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, lack familiarity with the land and routes. This gives insurgents a major advantage,” Akbar said, adding that the military was suffering from intelligence failures.
Can the government stop the BLA’s resurgence?
Kakar, who is pursuing a doctorate at the University of Cambridge, argued that the worsening security situation stems not just from intelligence failures but from a widening disconnect between the state and Baloch citizens.
“Over the past decade, the province has become a laboratory for political engineering led by the military establishment, with six different chief ministers in 10 years, excluding caretaker setups,” he said.
This instability, he added, has eroded democratic processes, undermining parliamentary politics as a viable means of political struggle.
“The biggest beneficiaries of this growing state-citizen divide have been Baloch insurgents, who are increasingly able to recruit young men willing to embark on suicidal missions,” Kakar said.
Akbar agreed, arguing that the state refuses to treat the Baloch population with dignity.
“Islamabad relies on a provincial administration that acts as a puppet of the military, pushing propaganda to convince the world that there is no crisis in Balochistan and that the state remains firmly in control,” he said.
Additional reporting by Saadullah Akhtar from Quetta, Pakistan