Passengers freed from a train confiscated by armed militants in Pakistan have described the frightening test as 'Doomsday scenes' while suicide bombs held women and children hostage and threatened to blow up.
The Jaffar Express, who wore more than 400 passengers from Quetta to Peshawar, was ambushed on Tuesday by heavily armed militants of the Balochistan Liberation Army (Bla), who hosted a number of passengers and left the train director with several others.
Pakistan's army launched a rescue operation to confront the attackers who 'women and children used as shields', according to security sources that are still ongoing.
Special forces and helicopters are used in the remote region to free the remaining hostages – of which it is suspected of being around 300.
Safety forces have claimed that 155 passengers were saved and 27 killed from militants – although these figures do not yet have to be verified independently.
But De Bla has given a grim warning for 'serious consequences' if security forces try a complete salvation.
In a hair -raising explanation, Jeeyand Baloch, a spokesperson for the Bla, said: 'The Bla gives a final warning: if the aerial bombing is not stopped immediately, all 100+ hostages will be performed within the following hour.
'Majeed Brigade, Stos, Fateh Squad and Zirrab Unit Fighters are actively involved in countermeasures, and every further military invasion will have catastrophic consequences.
'More than 100 enemy staff remains in the custody. The occupancy forces still have the chance to keep air strikes and save their men, otherwise the Pakistani army will bear full responsibility for the performance of all hostages'.
Pakistani security officials protect Quetta's train station after all train services were suspended after an attack by militants in the Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express train, in the province of Quetta, Pakistan of Balochistan, March 12, 2025
Liberated women and children Train Passengers gather at the Mach train station after the Pakistani security forces have released nearly 80 passengers after a safety operation against armed militants who lured the train in an ambush in the remote mountainous area, in the province of Mach, southwestern Balochistan, on March 11, 2025
Images released by the bla on Wednesday morning show that the vehicle is bursting into a cloud of smoke
The train came to a halt and dozens of hunters were seen that passengers brought hostages
A train with empty coffins to the siege site is at a train station in Quetta on March 12, 2025
On Wednesday, dozens of empty wooden coffins were seen at Quetta train station.
A railway officer confirmed that they were being transported to collect possible victims.
Ishaq Noor, one of Tuesday's survivors, remembered the pure fear when militants stormed the train.
“We held our breath while firing, not knowing what would happen,” he told the BBC.
The terrified passenger traveled with his wife and two children when a powerful explosion rocked the train.
He described the situation as 'so intense' and said that during the explosion one of his children fell out of their seats. He and his wife became human shields for their children and were willing to take a bullet to keep them alive.
The train traveled from Quetta to the northern city of Peshawar when this Tuesday was attacked.
After the attack, the train was left in a tunnel, in which it came under fire and the driver was injured, the police and railway officials said yesterday.
Militants reportedly blown up the track before they opened the fire on security personnel on board, according to the Shahid Rind government spokesperson.
A paramilitary soldier takes position at a train station at the attack location of a passenger train by insurgents
Passengers saved from the Peshawar Bound Jaffar Express train that was attacked by suspicious militants in Sibi, reach the train station in Quetta, the provincial capital of the Province Restive Balochistan, Pakistan, 12 March 2025
A wounded passenger saved by security forces from a passenger train attacked by insurgents arrives at a train station in many near Quetta
Passengers saved from the Peshawar Bound Jaffar Express train that was attacked by suspicious militants in Sibi, reach the train station in Quetta
A paramilitary soldier takes position at a train station at the attack location of a passenger train by insurgents
Images released by the Bla on Wednesday morning won the moment of the attack and seizure, which showed the train that makes its way in the track before erupting in a cloud of black smoke.
Bla -hunters are also supposedly gathered on a distant hill before the vehicle comes to a halt.
Another survivor, Muhammad Ashraf, who traveled to Lahore to visit family, said that the fear among passengers was overwhelming.
“There was a lot of fear among the passengers. It was a Doomsday scene, “he said.
Ashraf managed to escape late on Tuesday with a group of passengers.
They walked to the nearest train station for almost four hours, with some exhausted and wounded colleague travelers wore on their shoulders.
Mushtaq Muhammad, who was in the third carriage of the train, described the attackers as strongly organized and with each other in Balochi.
“Their leader repeatedly told them that they” have to keep an eye on “on the security personnel to ensure that they have not lost them,” he said.
Muhammad told the news site that the attackers began to release some passengers on Tuesday evening, including women, children, the elderly and some inhabitants of Balochistan.
Noor said he was liberated after he told the militants that he was from Turbo and demonstrated that he had children with him.
But despite the release of some passengers, the total number of remaining hostages remains unclear.
A Pakistani military helicopter floats over a train station in the Sibi district in the province of Zuidwest -Balochistan on March 12, 2025
Pakistani security officers are guardian after passengers saved from the Peshawar Bound Jaffar Express train that was attacked by suspected militants in Sibi
A soldier works to evacuate liberated train passengers at Mach's train station, which has been changed to an improvised hospital
Paramilitary soldiers are a guard at a train station in the Sibi district of the province of Southwestern Balochistan on March 12, 2025
A passenger, saved from a train after it was attacked by separatist militants, receives medical help at the train station of Mach, Balochistan, Pakistan, March 11, 2025
According to the government and railway officials, at least 10 citizens and members of Pakistan's security forces were killed.
Reports suggest that some militants have left the train and take an unknown number of passengers to the rugged site.
A decades of old rebellion in Balochistan by separatist militant groups has led to frequent attacks on the government, the army and the Chinese interests in the region, so that requirements for a share are insisted in its resources.
The oil and mineral-rich Balochistan is the largest but also least populated province of Pakistan.
It is a hub for the ethnic Baloch -lessness of the country, whose members say they are confronted with discrimination and exploitation by the central government.
De Bla strives for independence for Balochistan. It is the largest of various ethnic rebellious groups that have fought the government of the South Asian nation for decades and say that it is unfairly operating the rich gas and mineral resources of Balochistan.
As the tense impasse continues, the Pakistani troops are confronted with a race by time to secure the release of the hostages and to prevent the situation from running in further bloodshed.
