Islamabad, Mar 12 (UNI) At least 27 terrorists were killed and 155 passengers rescued by security forces, who have launched a massive clearance operation in Balochistan's Bolan district after terrorists took hostage Jaffar Express passengers, media reports said on Wednesday.
Security forces have pledged to continue the operation until the last militant is defeated, Geo News reported.
The train, with over 400 passengers on board in nine bogies, was on its way from Quetta to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when it came under attack, according to security sources, the reports said.
Security sources said that forces were continuing the operation to rescue the remaining hostages. They said that terrorists, some of them wearing suicide jackets, were using passengers as human shields, security sources revealed.
Due to the presence of hostages, security forces are proceeding with extreme caution, the sources added.
According to reports, one of the freed passengers expressed gratitude to the forces for safely evacuating him from a hijacked train and acknowledged the army and FC personnel's security efforts.
“There was gunfire, but by the grace of Allah, the army and FC personnel brought us to safety,” said one of the rescued passengers.
Meanwhile, railway officials said that the Bolan Mail and Jaffar Express, operating from Quetta to other parts of the country, have been suspended for three days. The decision to suspend train services was taken following the attack on the Jaffar Express in Bolan, according to railway authorities.
Additionally, the passenger train from Quetta to Chaman has also not yet departed, railway officials stated.
Earlier, railway officials reported that 57 rescued passengers from the Jaffar Express were transported to Quetta in the early hours of Wednesday, while 23 remained in Machh.
After security forces launched the operation on Tuesday, the militants split into small groups, security sources said. Seventeen injured passengers were taken to a nearby hospital for urgent medical treatment, the report said.
Sources further revealed that the attackers were using satellite phones to communicate with international handlers, including a mastermind in Afghanistan, and were using women and children as human shields, forcing extreme caution in the operation, the report said.
The attackers bombed the railway track before storming the train and opened fire on the locomotive, injuring the driver. The train, stopped just before a tunnel, was hijacked in a remote, mountainous region near the Afghanistan-Iran border.
UNI ARN