Pakistan’s army says it has freed more than 300 hostages from a passenger train seized by militants in Balochistan province on Tuesday. The military spokesperson said 33 militants were killed during the operation. Twenty-one civilian hostages and four military personnel were killed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) before the operation began. The military continues its search operation in the area to rule out any remaining threats. There were approximately 440 passengers on board the train when it was attacked, according to the army’s spokesperson. Security officials have been quoted as saying some of the militants may have left the train, taking an unknown number of passengers with them into the surrounding mountainous area. The military is working to find the passengers who escaped and fled into the surrounding area during the attack, the spokesperson said. It is not clear how many passengers are unaccounted for. The Pakistani authorities, as well as several Western countries, including the UK and US, have designated the BLA as a terrorist organisation.
Source link
