WORLD NEWS: AT LEAST 25 BODIES RETRIEVED FROM PAKISTAN TRAIN SIEGE
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Ahead of the first burial, officials said Thursday they had recovered the bodies of at least 25 individuals, including 21 captives, who had been killed in a train siege in Pakistan by separatist gunmen.
After a separatist gang stormed a train carrying over 450 people and bombed a remote railway track in mountainous southwest Balochistan, security officials reported that they had liberated over 340 train passengers in a two-day rescue operation that concluded late on Wednesday.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), one of several separatist organisations that charge foreigners with looting natural riches in Balochistan close to the borders with Afghanistan and Iran, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The number of those killed has fluctuated, but according to a military statement, the terrorists killed “21 innocent hostages” and four soldiers during the rescue effort.
The bodies of 25 persons were taken by train from the hostage scene to the next town of Mach on Thursday morning, according to a Balochistani railway official.
The official, who spoke to AFP under the condition of anonymity, said, “The deceased were identified as 19 military passengers, one police officer, and one railway official, while four bodies are yet to be identified.”
The information was verified by a senior local military official in charge of operations.
An army official previously stated that there were 28 military casualties, including 27 off-duty soldiers who were taken hostage, while speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity.
Passengers who escaped from the siege said after walking for hours through rugged mountains to reach safety that they saw people being shot dead by militants.
The first funerals are expected to take place on Thursday.
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif was also expected to visit Balochistan, his office said.
“The Prime Minister expressed grief and sorrow over the martyrdom of security personnel and train passengers during the operation,” it said in a statement.
The BLA released a video of an explosion on the track followed by dozens of militants emerging from hiding places in the mountains to attack the train.
Attacks by separatist groups have soared in the past few years, mostly targeting security forces and ethnic groups from outside the province.
Muhammad Naveed, who managed to escape, told AFP: “They asked us to come out of the train one by one. They separated women and asked them to leave. They also spared elders.”
“They asked us to come outside, saying we will not be harmed. When around 185 people came outside, they chose people and shot them down.”
Babar Masih, a 38-year-old Christian labourer, told AFP on Wednesday he and his family walked for hours through rugged mountains to reach a train that could take them to a makeshift hospital on a railway platform.
“Our women pleaded with them and they spared us,” he said.
“They told us to get out and not look back. As we ran, I noticed many others running alongside us.”
Security forces have been battling a decades-long insurgency in impoverished Balochistan but last year saw a surge in violence in the province compared with 2023, according to the independent Center for Research and Security Studies.
AFP
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