Attack on Jaffer Express

[Dalit]

That maybe so, but I can’t believe I have to explain that this lal topi type rhetoric that “we will invade Afghanistan and establish buffer zone” is not going to happen, cannot happen and won’t be good choice to begin with.

Unless the Taliban don't rein in the terror hideouts of the TTP and the likes things will surely happen. I cannot imagine that after the zillionth attack the state will just sit idle. This attack was also orchestrated in Afghanistan.

 

[FuturePAF]

Iran will NEVER be our ally be it Islamic government or Secular government. When you see them handing over Chabhar to Indians, harbouring Kulbashan Yadav and granting citizenship to people like Uzair Baloch, it makes you wonder what they are up to. Let us also not forget that although we are having a hard time controlling our side of Balochistan for various reasons, the Balochistan the Iranians control on their side is essentially ours as well. Culturally the Baloch have nothing in common with Iranians and it's one of those things we have accepted with a hard pill thanks to the Brits. Honestly I'm more and more convinced now why we have a strategic alliance with the Turks and Azeris. Enemy of my enemy is a friend.

I don’t know about the Baluchistan being ours part, but let’s just say, the Iranians don’t want Gwadar to succeed, so that is all we need to know. The same goes for the UAE.

That is why I don’t say enemy but rivals. Rivals to our business interests. We have a natural deep harbor, and our potential competitors don’t want to lose market share.

I suspect both are behind funding and/or harboring Baluchis militants.

 

[Dalit]

I don’t know about the Baluchistan being ours part, but let’s just say, the Iranians don’t want Gwadar to succeed, so that is all we need to know. The same goes for the UAE.

That is why I don’t say enemy but rivals. Rivals to our business interests. We have a natural deep harbor, and our potential competitors don’t want to lose market share.

I suspect both are behind funding and/or harboring Baluchis militants.

100%.

 

[Bilal]

Unless the Taliban don't reign in the terror hideouts of the TTP and the likes things will surely happen. I cannot imagine that after the zillionth attack the state will just sit idle.

Ok. Keep waiting for the buffer zone.

This is the crux of the problem. Internally this is the way forward. Unfortunately, this will never happen for the reasons we all understand.

so if this is like you admit the crux then why blame the enemy for taking advantage. Masle ki jar ghar ke andar hai.

 

[Cesur]

To those who are against us annexing Afghanistan. Here is a reminder of our glorious past. Neither Afghanistan can live without Pakistan and neither can Pakistan live without Afghanistan.

 

[Dalit]

Ok. Keep waiting for the buffer zone.

so if this is like you admit the crux then why blame the enemy for taking advantage. Masle ki jar ghar ke andar hai.

The problem is two fold. You have to address it internally and also externally. As brother @PakAl has explained in his post, internally changes are required.

Externally, I have tried to explain that Afghanistan is a major obstacle to peace and stability in Pakistan.

 

[Bilal]

The problem is two fold. You have to address it internally and also externally. As brother @PakAl has explained in his post, internally changed are required.

Externally, I have tried to explain that Afghanistan is a major obstacle to peace and stability in Pakistan.

Well there is no contradiction on this. The strategy is the question.

 

[ghazi52]

Jaffar Express hijacking: 190 rescued, 30 terrorists killed as rescue operation continues in Balochistan​

Dawn.com | Abdullah Zehri | Tahir Khan
March 12, 2025

Passengers, who were rescued from a train after it was attacked by terrorists, sit at the Mach Railway Station in Mach, Balochistan, on March 11, 2025. — Reuters/Stringer

A paramilitary soldier stands guard at a railway station in the Sibi district of southwestern Balochistan province on March 12 during a security operation against militants a day after they hijacked a passenger train. — AFP

A soldier (L) works to evacuate freed train passengers at the Mach railway station, which has been turned into a makeshift hospital, after Pakistani security forces freed nearly 80 passengers following a security operation against armed militants who ambushed the train in the remote mountainous area, in Mach on March 11, 2025. — AFP

Security forces have rescued at least 190 passengers and killed 30 terrorists as a rescue operation continues into its second day after terrorists hijacked the Jaffer Express train near Balochistan’s Bolan district, state media said on Wednesday.

The unprecedented hostage situation began on Tuesday near the Mashkaf Tunnel, about 157 kilometres from Quetta, when terrorists attacked the Jaffer Express and took more than 400 passengers hostage, including numerous security personnel.

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What we know so far:

• Train carrying around 450 people, including security personnel, hijacked; BLA claims responsibility
• Security forces launch operation, kill 30 terrorists;
• 190 passengers, including 37 injured, rescued as forces continue military operation with ‘extra care’ due to hostages
• Terrorists in contact with their facilitators in Afghanistan, as per state media
• Help desk and emergency cell set up for families of travellers
• Condemnations pour in from UN, Iran, Germany

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Security forces claimed to have rescued around 190 passengers so far — including women and children — from the attackers, state-run Radio Pakistan reported today, citing security sources.

The security sources added that 30 terrorists had been killed by security forces so far, while the operation to eliminate the remaining assailants was continuing.

The report further said 37 injured had been sent for medical treatment.

“The terrorists responsible for the cowardly attack on Jaffar Express are in contact with their facilitators in Afghanistan,” Radio Pakistan further said.

“The terrorists have positioned suicide bombers very close to some innocent hostages. The suicide bombers are wearing explosive vests,” the report quoted security sources as saying.

“In anticipation of possible defeat, the terrorists are using innocent people as human shields,” the report said.

It added that suicide bombers have “taken women and children hostage at three different locations” and that the operation was being conducted with “utmost caution” due to the presence of women and children.

Although hampered by the remoteness of the area, security forces said they had launched a massive operation in the Dhadar area of Bolan Pass to rescue the hostages.

 

[ghazi52]

There was no confirmation of the total number of casualties, but officials said that at least 10 people — including the driver of the locomotive and eight security personnel — had lost their lives as the forces engaged in a gun battle.

It was not immediately clear whether these people had been freed as the result of kinetic military action, or were among those allegedly freed by the armed assailants.

The hijacking is a first of its kind event, as terrorists had never attempted to attack or take an entire train and its occupants hostage earlier.

The banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack, and claimed to have taken a large number of people hostage. The group also claimed that they had freed a number of people — including women and children — but these reports could not be independently verified.

An operation to recover the rest of the missing passengers and bring the attackers to justice continued in the area around the Mashkaf Tunnel.

 

[ghazi52]

Due to the sensitive nature of the action underway, Dawn.com will not report any critical operational details until the situation has been resolved.

Following the attack, Pakistan Railways temporarily suspended its entire operations from Punjab and Sindh to Balochistan and vice versa.

Amid the ongoing operation, Pakistan Railways announced setting up a “Help Desk” at Rawalpindi Railway Station for families to seek information about their loved ones onboard the train.

The help desk, which the Pakistan Railways said was in constant contact with the control rooms in Quetta and Peshawar, can be contacted on 051-9270831, 051-9270834 and 051-9270835.

An “Emergency Cell” has also been set up at Quetta Railway Station for information on the passengers and can be reached out to on 081-9201210, 081-9201211, and 117.

The train operation to Quetta has been temporarily suspended, and will be restored after security clearance, Pakistan Railways reiterated.

 

[ghazi52]

Quetta Railway Hospital’s Dr Hasan Naqil told reporters at the city’s railway station earlier today that 57 passengers had been shifted to the provincial capital after being rescued.

He added that 23 of them were residents of Balochistan’s Mach and Sibi districts, and that a relief train was to depart for Mach after getting security clearance.

“We do not have any information about the dead and the injured,” the doctor told reporters earlier today. He highlighted that the route where the train was stopped was a harsh terrain and “accessing it was difficult”.

 

[ghazi52]

‘God saved us’: Rescued people recall details of attack​

“God saved us,” one elderly rescued man told media earlier today at the Quetta railway station, where passengers were brought from Mach after being recovered.

“God will help but [right now] the situation is not good,” the distraught man added.

Recounting the attack, he said a “[rocket] launcher” hit the train’s engine, after which gunfire began. “There were launchers and such [huge] explosions,” the man said, tilting his face upwards to describe the scale of the attack.

A rescued woman speaks to media at Quetta railway station on March 12, 2025. — screengrab from video via Abdullah Zehri


An elderly woman accompanying him echoed the same sentiments, saying: “God has saved us […] May God destroy them (terrorists).”

“We were anxious, we started sweating […] I told my husband ‘let’s leave quickly’,” the woman added.

She recalled that the couple walked to a nearby railway station, from where a cargo train took them to Mach. “It was very unlikely that we would have been saved,” the elderly woman added.

Mohammad Ashraf, a rescued passenger going from Quetta to Lahore, speaks to media at Quetta railway station on March 12, 2025. — screengrab from video via Abdullah Zehri


Mohammad Ashraf, another rescued passenger who was going from Quetta to Lahore, when asked if he saw any people dying during the attack, said he saw “at least six or seven” travellers losing their lives.

“[…] no one was looking anywhere or speaking to each other. Everyone was quiet because of fear,” the elderly man told reporters.

“When they separated the ladies and us elderly at one side and told us ‘you can go’, we walked approximately 7-8km to the Paneer station,” Ashraf recalled.

“There was gunfire [but] God protected us,” said another rescued man, according to a video making rounds on social media. He thanked soldiers and Frontier Constabulary personnel for bringing them back to a railway station after the rescue.

 

[ghazi52]

The United Nations also condemned the incident and demanded the release of the hostages.

“We’ve just seen the reports. We of course condemn any hostage taking, and we call on those who’ve taken people hostage to release them at once,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told a press briefing yesterday.

“We’re going to keep following the situation as it evolves,” Dujarric added.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ismail Baghaei also condemned the “terrorist act” and expressed deep concern over the endangerment of innocent civilians.

In a statement, Baghaei recalled Iran’s “principled stance […] in condemning all forms and manifestations of terrorism and violent extremism”.

He added that Iran was ready to “provide any assistance necessary to bring an end to this terrorist incident”.

 

[ghazi52]

Operation being executed with ‘extra care’​

According to Imran Hayat, the Railways Divisional Superintendent (DS) in Quetta, 10 people — including the driver of the locomotive and eight security personnel — had lost their lives.

Security officials said that the rescue operation was being executed with extra care, due to the presence of hostages in the terrorists’ captivity.

By late Tuesday night, 104 recovered passengers were shifted to the nearby Paneer railway station, including 58 men, 31 women and 15 children. A relief train had evacuated them to nearby Mach station, while efforts are underway for the safe recovery of the remaining passengers.

Railway officials said that around 750 passengers were booked to travel in the Jaffar Express, but the train left Quetta with around 450 people onboard.

Sources said that over 200 security personnel were also travelling on the same train.

 

[ghazi52]

According to the government’s statement, an emergency has been imposed at the Sibi hospital, while ambulances and security forces were on their way to the site of the incident.

“The scale of the incident and the possibility of terrorist elements are being determined. The Balochistan government has ordered that emergency measures be taken, and all institutions remain active,” Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind said.

Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry told Geo News last night that many people had been taken off the train and were being used as human shields by the terrorists.

The state minister said security forces were treading carefully because of the lives involved, saying that the operation was still underway.