The backbone remembers that the terrorists were equipped with heavy weapons, passengers were groups on the basis of their original region.
In the night dead, Mohammad Niman saw a chance. The three armed men who guarded his boogie were in deep sleep. Quickly, he planned to escape. He pleaded with fellow travelers, “This is the gambling of life and death … it is never or never.”
Likewise, with a 30 -year -old young man, more than a dozen people riding on Jaffar Express, snatch out the train outside the train and in the surrounding mountains. Behind them, they could hear the turmoil. Shots rang everywhere. But they did not look back. “We kept going for four hours and just stopped when we arrived at the Frontier Corps post,” Niman said.
On March 11, terrorists affiliated with the illegal Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) attacked the Jaffar Express near Mishkif tunnel, about 157 km from Quetta, and took around 440 passengers hostage. Hijacking was of the first nature-while the terrorists bombed the train tracks and tried to remove the trains from the tracks before, they never tried to take the entire train and its occupation hostages.
Subsequently, the army launched a recovery operation, which ended last night. In a press release, the army’s media wing said all the hostages were rescued while 33 terrorists were killed in the attack.
According to LT General Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry, Director General of Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the operation was carried out by Army, Air Force, FC and Special Services Group. He added that 21 passengers were killed before the clearance operation started while four FC personnel were martyred.
Face to face with death
Naaman was lucky among the passengers who did not harm hijacking. But most of his friends did not do that. “About 20 of us have been working in Afghanistan for the past several months and decided to return home [to Gujranwala and Lahore] For a few weeks, “he told Don Dot Com.
Unfortunately, only three of them survive – others have either been killed or missing. Even some of them were killed in front of Naaman’s eyes. “After a shock at the train stop, the firing began. The terrorists then entered the boogies and started checking all the identity cards.
He reminded, “If the government refused to meet their demands, they threatened to kill us all.” “He [the terrorists] There was a large group, they even took a position in the mountains.
Another passenger, who managed to escape, said another passenger, Mohammad Naveed, said he asked to come out of the train one by one. “They separated the women and asked them to leave. They also saved the elders.
“They told us to come out, saying that we would not be harmed. When about 185 people came out, they chose people and shot them.
Arsalan Yusuf, one of the passengers through security forces, recalled that the terrorists were equipped with rocket launchers, guns and other weapons. He said he group passengers on the basis of their original region.
“Sometimes, they executed the soldiers … and executed them,” he said. “For the second time, they targeted specific people. If there was a grief against anyone, they shot him on the spot.
‘God saved me’
75 -year -old Mohammad Ashraf, who was traveling to Lahore on Jaffar Express, said Don Dot Com That all the passengers were in pain. “Some of us lay on the floor’s face.”
He said he killed at least 10 people in an hour, including three railway police personnel and many police commandos. Their weapons were snatched by the terrorists, “they reminded. Ashraf added that he was allowed to go only because of old age.
“I went on foot and reached the cheese station three hours later, after which FC personnel took me and other passengers on a relief train,” he said. They returned to Quetta last night.
“I saw Qiyamat And death was very close, but it was God who saved me and many other travelers despite the fact that they wanted to kill them all.
The 38 -year -old Christian laborer Babar Masih had the same experience. He and his family kept running for hours from the Mountains to reach a train, which could take them to a temporary hospital on the railway platform.
“Our women pleaded with them and they saved us,” he said. “They told us not to get out and look back. When we ran, I saw many other people walking with us.
Long wait
At the Quetta railway station last night, the platform was crowded with family members who were eagerly waiting for their loved ones. All the rescued were being brought back.
Abdul Rauf, 30, was among the waiters. His eyes were going from tracks to freight trains, looking for a familiar face. He spent the last two days at the station. “I said goodbye to my father on Tuesday … he was going to Multan to attend the nephew’s funeral,” he said.
“In the last few hours, I have asked about my father, but after 36 hours, no information was received,” he said, adding that his father was not included in the list of passengers who were about to return that night.
“Where are the authorities? Who will listen to the angry families waiting for the information about their beloved hideout.” We have served our whole life for this country, why is it happening to us? “
Additional input from AFP and Reuters
Header image: The passengers of the train sat on the bus after the liberation of the armed terrorists, who attacked the train on March 13, 2025, in Mach, in the remote mountainous area of southwestern Balochistan. – AFP.
