ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military on Friday provided details of its hostage rescue operation after separatist militants hijacked a passenger train in Balochistan earlier this week, holding more than 200 people captive before security forces intervened to secure their release.
The separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) bombed part of a railway track and stormed the Jaffar Express on Tuesday afternoon in Mushkaaf, a rugged area in the mountainous Bolan range. The hostage crisis was resolved a day later when the armed forces conducted an operation to rescue the captives, killing 33 militants in the process.
Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry, the military’s spokesperson, described the operation as “one of the most successful” conducted in a hostage situation.
“Not even a single casualty of hostages took place during this process,” he said at a press conference in Islamabad. “The whole operation was done with extreme expertise.”
Chaudhry said the armed forces executed the mission after a careful assessment of the situation, ensuring the safety of the hostages while eliminating the militants who had positioned suicide bombers near civilians to prolong the standoff.
He informed the militants had killed 26 hostages soon after seizing control of the train, but there were no further casualties among the passengers during the rescue operation. The security forces also lost four soldiers in the whole episode.
During his briefing, the military spokesperson also criticized Indian media for “glorifying” the attack, accusing it of using fabricated content to amplify the BLA’s narrative.

“The Indian media was using videos shared by the internationally recognized terrorist group,” he said, referring to visuals released by the BLA. “They used images generated by artificial intelligence and old videos as well to glorify and promote the attack internationally.”
Chaudhry maintained that the coverage by Indian outlets underscored a broader agenda to destabilize Balochistan and pointed to the case of Indian national Kulbhushan Yadav, whom Pakistan arrested in 2016, accusing him of spying for India’s Research and Analysis Wing.
New Delhi denies the allegations, saying he was kidnapped from Iran and illegally rendered to Pakistan.
The military spokesperson played portions of Yadav’s “confessional video” recorded soon after his arrest, in which he said he was tasked by the Indian authorities with facilitating militant violence in Balochistan.
The military spokesperson also reiterated that BLA militants were in contact with individuals inside Afghanistan, echoing Islamabad’s allegation that Afghan authorities have been backing anti-Pakistan groups, a charge the administration in Kabul denies.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by land area, has long been the site of a low-level insurgency, with separatist groups accusing the government of exploiting the province’s natural resources while leaving its people in poverty.
Government officials deny the allegation and say they are developing the province through multibillion-dollar projects, including those backed by China.

PESHAWAR: A blast tore through a mosque on Friday in northwestern Pakistan, police said, injuring a religious party leader and three others, including children.
Abdullah Nadeem, a local leader of the Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) political party, was believed to be the target of the blast and had been hospitalized with serious injures, said Asif Bahadar, a district police chief in South Waziristan. He said two children were among the injured.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the explosion.
Attacks have been escalating in Pakistan’s border regions with Afghanistan in recent months.
Last month, a suicide bomber killed six worshippers during Friday prayers at an Islamic seminary in northwestern Pakistan, known as a historic training ground for the Afghan Taliban.
This week in southwestern Balochistan, separatist militants hijacked a train and held passengers hostage in a day-long standoff with security forces.
Pakistan has vowed to crack down on growing militancy and has said the militants are finding safe haven in neighboring Afghanistan, a charge the ruling Afghan Taliban deny.