Separatist militants blew up a railway track and opened fire on a passenger train in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, taking dozens of hostages and battling security forces conducting a rescue operation, police and the insurgents said.
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Police have not specified how many passengers were taken hostage in the remote mountainous area but the insurgents said they were holding 214 people, and have threatened to start executing them.
“The affected train is still on the spot and the armed men are holding passengers,” senior district police officer Rana Dilawar said.
“Security forces launched a massive operation,” he said, adding that helicopters and special forces had been deployed.
The train was trapped in a tunnel and the driver was killed after sustaining serious injuries, local authorities, police and railway officials said.
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The Baloch Liberation Army, a separatist militant group, said it blew up the tracks and “swiftly took control of the train”. The group said it would execute 10 people in response to the ongoing military operation.