Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
Pakistani security forces stormed a train on Wednesday that had been hijacked by separatist militants, killing all 33 attackers and ending a day-long standoff involving hundreds of hostages, the military said.
Separatist Baloch militants on Tuesday blew up the railway track and hurled rockets at the Jaffar Express when it was on its way to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province from Balochistan’s capital of Quetta, carrying 440 people.
The military said 21 hostages and four security troops were killed over the course of the standoff.
“Today we freed a large number of people, including women and children … The final operation was carried out with great care,” military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said, adding that no civilians were killed in the final stage of the operation.
Before the army announcement, the Baloch Liberation Army, which claimed the attack, said it had killed 50 passengers on Wednesday evening. It had said on Tuesday that it was holding 214 people, mostly security personnel.
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