Pakistani security forces have rescued 155 passengers from a train hijacked by separatist fighters in the country’s southwest, security sources reported on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the government confirmed that an operation remains ongoing to free dozens still held hostage.

The attack occurred on Tuesday when militants detonated explosives on a railway track and opened fire on the train traveling from Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), an ethnic armed group, claimed responsibility for the assault, issuing a warning that it would begin executing hostages unless authorities released Baloch political prisoners, activists, and individuals it alleged had been forcibly disappeared by the military within 48 hours.

According to multiple sources who requested anonymity, some hostages are being held near militants wearing "suicide jackets". While the exact number of captives remains unclear, the Interior Ministry confirmed in a statement that efforts to rescue them are ongoing.

On Tuesday, BLA claimed it had taken 214 people hostage, while a security source told Reuters that the train had been carrying 425 passengers when it was attacked.

The number of militants involved is uncertain, but security sources stated on Wednesday that 27 had been killed so far.

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BLA is the most prominent among several ethnic armed groups fighting against the Pakistani government in Balochistan, a mineral-rich province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.

The group has also repeatedly targeted foreign-backed energy projects, accusing outside actors of exploiting Balochistan’s vast resources while neglecting the province’s impoverished population.

Balochistan, a mineral-rich but economically deprived region bordering Afghanistan and Iran, has been the scene of long-running insurgencies driven by ethnic, sectarian, and separatist tensions. Security forces have struggled for decades to quell the violence.

Pakistan endured its deadliest year in a decade in 2024, with more than 1,600 people killed in militant attacks, including 685 security personnel, according to the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies. The violence has been largely confined to the country’s border regions, with incidents in major cities becoming increasingly rare.

So far in 2025, at least 81 people have been killed in attacks across Pakistan, with security forces remaining the primary target of anti-state militants, according to an AFP tally.

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