Update: Pakistani forces rescue remaining hostages from train hijack

Security officials of the Pakistani forces on Wednesday said they have freed the remaining passengers from a hijacked train.

The train was hijacked by separatist militants.

Militants in explosive-filled vests took hundreds of people hostage and executed 100 more.

In a statement late Wednesday, the Pakistani army said that all innocent hostages have been safely rescued.

They also reported that their evacuation was underway.

The rescue operation came hours after militants said they had executed 50 hostages.

This was in addition to the 10 they killed late Tuesday, the 10 Pakistani soldiers they killed during a firefight.

They had also killed 30 people “in combat” on the same day.

The Pakistani army said that it rescued some 178 hostages Wednesday in addition to the 168 it recovered Tuesday.

Media reports say that more than 400 people, including 214 soldiers and other security personnel, were on the Jaffar Express on Tuesday.

It traveled from Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan province, to the northern city of Peshawar.

As it entered a tunnel in a remote, mountainous district of Balochistan, the railway track was blown up by militants.

The militants then opened fire on the train, killing 11 people in Pakistan’s first such hijacking.

Armed with rockets, grenades and guns, the assailants then began taking passengers hostage.

Security officials said the militants separated law enforcement personnel from the others before taking them into the mountains in small groups.

The officials said rescue operation was conducted extremely cautiously.

This is because the hostages were surrounded by militants wearing explosive-laden vests.

One rescued woman described scenes of chaos following the attack, likening it to the “Day of Judgement.”

She told CNN she fled gunfire and walked for two hours to reach safety.

Passenger Mohammad Ashraf told CNN he saw more than 100 armed individuals on the train.

Ashraf added that no harm was inflicted on women and children.

The security sources accused the militants of being in contact with handlers in Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s military and government have long accused Afghanistan of providing sanctuary to militant groups.

Taliban leaders have long denied this allegation.

Tuesday’s kidnapping reports say, is an audacious moment for a separatist insurgency who seeks greater political autonomy.

They also seek economic development in the strategically important and mineral-rich mountainous region.

But it also highlights the ever-deteriorating security situation there – one that Pakistan’s government has been grappling with for decades.

Balochistan’s population, made up mostly of the ethnic Baloch group, is deeply disenfranchised, impoverished,

It has been growing increasingly alienated from the federal government by decades of policies widely seen as discriminatory.

An insurgency there has been ongoing for decades but has gained attention in recent years since the province’s deep-water Gwadar port was leased to China.

The port, often touted as “the next Dubai,” has become a security nightmare.

This is because of the persistent bombings of vehicles carrying Chinese workers, resulting in many deaths.

Some analysts said Tuesday’s attack marked an escalation in the sophistication of attacks by the insurgents.

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