Pakistan train hijack survivors recall chilling 36-hour seige in Balochistan: ‘…they shot him on the spot’
Hostages freed after a day-long ordeal following a BLA militant attack on a Pakistan train recalled crouching on the floor for hours before their release.
Train hijack in Pakistan news: The Balochistan Liberation Army or BLA militants ambushed the Jaffar Express train, carrying 440 passengers, near the mountainous terrain of Gudalar and Piru Kunri in Pakistan's Balochistan province on Tuesday. The militants killed 21 passengers and four paramilitary soldiers before the Army eliminated all 33 terrorists on Wednesday.
Hostages freed after a day-long ordeal following a militant attack on a train recalled crouching on the floor for hours before their release, as the bodies of 25 victims reached Quetta, news agency Reuters reported.
The separatist BLA detonated train tracks and held passengers hostage in a tense standoff with security forces in a remote mountain pass.
The militants with rocket launchers, guns, and other weapons stormed the train and began shooting people, Arslan Yousaf, one of several rescued hostages who arrived in regional capital Quetta on Thursday escorted by security forces, told Reuters.
Yousaf added that they grouped the passengers based on their region of origin.
"Sometimes, they took soldiers ... and executed them," he said, referring to passengers from the Pakistan Army and other security forces who were travelling on leave.
Also Read | ‘Gunmen shot them all…’: Blow-by-blow account of Pakistan train hijacking horror in Balochistan
“Other times, they targeted specific individuals. If they had a grudge against someone, they shot him on the spot,” he added.
Survived on water
The hostages survived only on water during the time they were held, said Muhammad Tanveer, another passenger, told the news agency.
“The terrorists breached the train by smashing windows, but they mistakenly believed we were dead,” said train driver Amjad, who dived to the engine floor for cover when the militants opened fire and crouched there for about 27 hours to survive.
Mehboob Ahmed, 31, who was shot several times, said the hostages made two attempts to escape from the train, and while some succeeded, many were killed as the armed men opened fire.
Also Read | How Pakistan forces stormed hijacked train, rescued passengers in Balochistan
"We had nearly lost hope for survival," he said.
The BBC also spoke to multiple eyewitnesses who described the "doomsday scenes" on board the train as the attack unfolded.
Ishaq Noor told BBC Urdu first scenes: "We held our breath throughout the firing, not knowing what would happen next."
A railway police officer claimed the militants were receiving orders: "They would get orders to kill, and they would pick up people from the group and kill them. They killed many people - both army personnel and civilians."
The BBC also spoke to Noor Muhammad who was among those released by the militants. He said that when the initial volleys of gunfire stopped after an hour, armed men forced open the door to the train and entered, saying "get out or we will shoot you".
Mr Muhammad said he was escorted off the train, and when he told the militants his wife was still in the back of the car, they brought her out too. Then they "told us to go straight and not look back".
The couple walked through the wilderness, he said, and with "great difficulty" reached Panir Railway Station at about 1900, where they rested.
PM Shehbaz Sharif visits Balochistan
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Quetta on Thursday for a briefing on the security situation.
"No such incident has ever happened in the history of Pakistan," Sharif told a meeting of parliamentarians and military officers in the city.
BLA said that the people Pakistan "claimed" to have rescued were actually released by the group itself.
"Now that the state has abandoned its hostages to die it will also bear responsibility for their deaths," the group's spokesperson, Jeeyand Baloch, said in a statement on Thursday.
(With inputs from Reuters)
