Balochistan: Train attacked, 20 Pakistani soldiers killed, 182 taken hostage by BLA

at 7:47 pm
Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) fighters at some undisclosed location. File Pic.

Quetta, Mar 11 (NVI) In an unprecedented and massive attack, Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) today seized control of a train — Jaffer Express — carrying Pakistani military personnel and claimed to have taken 182 soldiers hostage after killing 20 in Balochistan.

The Pakistan Army has mounted an operation to free the hostages but the BLA freedom fighters have repelled the ground and aerial advances by the military in intense gun-battles.

The BLA has threatened to execute all the hostages if the aerial bombardment was not halted and if military reinforcements reached the captive site.

The train, which was en route from Quetta in Pakistan-occupied Balochistan to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan, was attacked by several BLA freedom fighters in an area between Gudallar and Piru Kunri.

“After capturing the Jaffar Express, the fighters of the Baloch Liberation Army have taken 182 hostages who have been in our custody for the past six hours,” its spokesman Jeeyand Baloch said in a statement to NVI.

During this operation, 20 Pakistani military personnel were killed.

“Throughout the ongoing operation, intense confrontations have taken place with the Pakistani Air Force, with our fighters using anti-aircraft artillery and inflicting severe losses on the enemy,” the spokesman said.

“BLA fighters are continuously strengthening their positions, leading the operation and challenging the might of the Pakistani military,” he said.

In this successful operation not a single BLA fighter has been injured or martyred so far, Jeeyand Baloch said.

“Currently, all hostages are in the custody of the BLA’s Fidayeen unit, Majeed Brigade. Clear instructions have been issued to the Majeed Brigade: if the Pakistani military attempts to approach all hostages will be executed and the Fidayeen will continue their resistance until martyrdom without retreating,” he said. (NVI)

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