INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Armed militants are holding hundreds of train guests hostage in a continuous siege declared by a separatist group behind rising violence in
southwestern Pakistan.The militants injured the driver as they took control of the train in a remote, mountainous location of Balochistan
province which borders Afghanistan and Iran.Over 450 guests onboard are being held hostage by shooters, Muhammad Kashif, a senior train
government authorities in Quetta, the capital of the province, informed AFP.Passengers include ladies and children, he added.The attack was
instantly declared by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) which is defending self-reliance and accuses outsiders of profiting from the areas
wealth.In a statement, it stated gunmen bombed the railway track before storming aboard the train.The militants quickly took control of the
train and have taken all travelers hostage, said the declaration launched to media.The group alerted of serious consequences if an effort is
made to save the hostages.The event happened around 1pm local time (8am Irish time) in rural Sibi district, near to a city station where it
had actually been because of stop.A guest train called the Jaffar Express was visited armed militants, said a senior federal government
official in Sibi, who asked not to be named due to the fact that he was not authorised to speak with the media.The travelers are being held
hostage, and the motorist has been injured.The train had left Quetta for Peshawar, in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa - a more than 30-hour
An emergency situation has actually been enforced at healthcare facilities in Sibi, according to the federal government official.A senior
police official from the area surrounding Sibi, who asked not to be named due to the fact that he was not authorised to talk to the media,
said that the train remains stuck just before a tunnel surrounded by mountains.The area is a mountainous area making it simpler for
militants to have hideouts and strategy attacks.Security forces have been fighting a decades-long revolt in impoverished Balochistan, which
militant groups declare is being exploited by outsiders, with wealth from its natural deposits syphoned off with little advantage to the
regional population.Violence has soared in the western border regions with Afghanistan, from north to south, because the Taliban reclaimed
More than 1,600 individuals were eliminated in attacks in Pakistan in 2024 - the most dangerous year in practically a years - according to
the Center for Research and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based analysis group.BLA militants eliminated 7 Punjabi visitors in February
after they were ordered off a bus.At least 39 people were eliminated in coordinated attacks in 2015 that mostly targeted ethnic Punjabis.In
November, the BLA claimed obligation for a battle at Quettas primary railway station that killed 26 individuals, including 14
soldiers.Source: AFP-- Agencies
