QUETTA: A delegation of Pakistan Railways officials visited the site of a militant attack on a passenger train in the southwestern mountainous Bolan region on Saturday, saying repair work on the damaged track would begin after security clearance to restore train service from Balochistan.
Dozens of separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) militants attacked the Quetta-Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express with bomb, gun and rocket attacks on Tuesday afternoon, killing 31 people and taking more than 200 passengers captive.
The hostage crisis lasted for 36 hours before security forces executed a rescue operation, killing 33 militants and securing the release of the passengers.
Speaking to the media, Rasheed Imtiaz Siddiqui, deputy chief engineer of Pakistan Railways, said four carriages of the Jaffar Express had derailed in the attack and 398 feet of track was damaged.
Pakistan's Frontier Corps inspect the siege site after armed militants ambushed a train in the remote mountainous area, at Pehro Kunri in Balochistan province on March 15, 2025. (AFP)
“Our teams are ready at Sibi, Mushkaf, Paneer and Aab-e-Gum railway stations,” he told reporters at the Bolan site where the train was hijacked.
“This is a highly sensitive area, and our teams will have to work from dawn to dusk since there can be security issues in the dark requiring formal clearance [from Pakistani forces],” he added.
A view shows the railway station, after the train service is halted following the attack on a train by separatist militants in Bolan, in Quetta, Balochistan, on March 14, 2025. (REUTERS)
Siddiqui said it would take at least eight to nine hours to clear the derailed carriages and repair the track.
Armed separatist groups often target trains and passenger coaches in southwestern Balochistan province, which has witnessed a low-level insurgency for decades against the Pakistani state.
Pakistan army soldiers stand at a tunnel where the Jaffar Express train was attacked by separatist militants, at Pehro Kunri in Balochistan province on March 15, 2025. (REUTERS)
The separatists accuse the government of stripping the province’s natural resources and leaving its people mired in poverty. However, government officials deny the allegation, saying they are working to uplift the province through development projects, including multibillion-dollar schemes funded by Beijing.
Last August, the BLA destroyed a historic bridge built by the British Army in the 18th century in the hilly area of Kolpur, suspending train service for nearly a month.
Pakistan's Frontier Corps stand guard at the siege site after armed militants ambushed a train in the remote mountainous area, at Pehro Kunri in Balochistan province on March 15, 2025. (AFP)
Brig. Umar Altaf, Commandant Sibi Scouts, told the media that the area was clear.
“The terrorists were confident they could prolong the standoff and propagate that the area was under their control,” he said, pointing out that they could not withstand the rescue operation.
“We have recovered eight magnetic improvised explosive devices from the area,” he continued. “They [the militants] were ready to blast the train, but we neutralized them.”
