Separatists Are Still Holding Hundreds of Hostages in Pakistan Train Standoff
Posted on: Mar 13, 2025 00:48 IST | Posted by: Nytimes
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certificate forces were trying to deliver passengers a daytime after Baloch ethnic fighters seized a rail carrying more than 400 people.
Reporting from Karachi, Pakistan
Pakistani security forces have been locked in a deadly standoff with armed militants for more than a day after the attackers seized a passenger train on Tuesday and held hundreds hostage.
The Baloch Liberation Army, or B.L.A., a banned separatist group, seized the train, which was carrying more than 400 people, in a remote mountainous area in the country’s southwest.
The group claimed to be holding at least 214 people, including military personnel and civilian law enforcement officers. State news media, citing security authorities, said that more than 190 hostages had been rescued.
The minister of state for interior, Muhammad Tallal Chaudry, said on the television station Geo News that suicide bombers had positioned themselves among the remaining hostages, and that the attackers were using women and children as shields.
The B.L.A. Demanded on Tuesday that the government release its imprisoned members within 48 hours, threatening to execute the hostages if the demand was not met. On Wednesday, the group said that if prisoners were not freed, it would kill five hostages for every hour that passed after the ultimatum expired.
Pakistani officials said that at least 30 militants had been killed in the continuing rescue operation, and that hostages were being held at three separate locations. Mr. Chaudhry said that about 70 to 80 militants had been involved in the attack. Among the hostages who have been rescued, it was unclear whether they were freed as a result of military action or were released by the militants.
The New York Times
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