Quetta, March 13, 2025: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is on a day long visit to Balochistan on Thursday as dozens of people rescued from the Jaffar Express hijacking arrived in Quetta, following a day-long standoff in which security forces killed 33 attackers.
Sharif’s visit came even as the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA)—which claimed responsibility for the attack—disputed the military’s claim that the standoff had ended, insisting the battle was ongoing and that it still held hostages.
The attack unfolded on Tuesday when BLA militants sabotaged rail tracks and opened fire on the Jaffar Express, which was traveling from Quetta to Peshawar. Armed with rocket launchers, guns, and other weapons, the assailants stormed the train, indiscriminately shooting passengers. Survivors recounted how the militants separated passengers by region, executing security personnel and targeted individuals on the spot.
“The terrorists sometimes took soldiers and executed them,” said Arslan Yousaf, one of the rescued hostages. “Other times, they killed people they had grudges against.”
For nearly 27 hours, hostages were deprived of food, surviving only on water. Train driver Amjad, who narrowly escaped death, described how he hid on the engine floor after the militants smashed the train’s windows and opened fire. “They thought we were dead,” he said.
According to the military, the operation resulted in the deaths of 33 militants, while 21 hostages and four security personnel were also killed. However, the BLA claimed 50 hostages were executed and alleged that those Pakistan said were rescued had actually been released by the group itself.
“Now that the state has abandoned its hostages to die, it will also bear responsibility for their deaths,” BLA spokesperson Jeeyand Baloch stated. The group had earlier threatened to start executing hostages if authorities failed to meet their 48-hour deadline to release Baloch political prisoners and missing persons allegedly detained by the military.
During his day-long visit to Quetta, Prime Minister Sharif received a security briefing on the evolving situation. Condemning the attack, he vowed that such acts of terror would not weaken Pakistan’s resolve for peace.
“These cowardly attacks will not shake our determination,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday.
Authorities said 25 bodies had been transported to a local railway station, from where they would be transferred to Quetta via ambulances.
The Jaffar Express attack marks one of the deadliest assaults in Balochistan’s decades-long insurgency, underscoring the continued threat posed by separatist groups in the mineral-rich province, home to major China-led projects, including a port and a gold-copper mine.
