Jaffar Express Hijack: Clearance operation complete, all 33 'terrorists' killed, says Pak Army

Islamabad [Pakistan], March 13 (ANI): The clearance operation launched after the Jaffar Express train's hijacking in Balochistan was complete and all 33 "terrorists" were killed at the site of the attack, Dawn reported citing the Pakistan Army's media wing.
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, while speaking on Dunya News, said, "On March 11 in Bolan, terrorists targeted a railroad track around 1 pm and blew it up and stopped the Jaffar Express. According to railway officials, the train had 440 passengers."
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which has been banned by Pakistan, has claimed responsibility for the attack. However, General Chaudhry did not make any mention of that.
Lt General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said that the area where the incident occurred was difficult to approach as it was far away from civilisation and the road networks. He said that the army, air force, Frontier Corps and the Special Services Group personnel participated in the operation and recovered the hostages.
"The terrorists used hostages, including women and children, as human shields. The recovery operation was immediately started," he said as quoted by Dawn.
Chaudhry said the army, air force, Frontier Corps and the Special Services Group personnel had taken part and recovered the hostages.
He said, "These terrorists were in contact with their supporters and masterminds in Afghanistan during the operation via satellite phone. You saw that around 100 passengers were safely rescued yesterday evening from the terrorists, and today as well, a large number of passengers have been recovered," adding that the process continued intermittently.
The Jaffar Express, carrying around 450 people, was attacked by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) with bombs and guns on Tuesday. The train was traveling from Quetta to Peshawar when it was intercepted in a tunnel near Sibbi.
The BLA claimed responsibility for the attack, stating they were holding over 200 hostages, mostly security and intelligence personnel. According to Voice of America (VOA) report, the attack resulted in the death of the train driver and injured at least 37 people, who are currently receiving treatment in hospitals.
Speaking about the "final clearance operation", General Chaudhry said "All hostage passengers were recovered. This operation was conducted with great skill and care since terrorists were using them as human shields."
Asked whether he was confirming the end of the operation with the killing of all terrorists, he responded, "Yes, all present terrorists there have been sent to hell and their total number was 33." He further said that no passenger was injured in the final clearance operation. However, before that "the number of passengers who fell victim to the barbarism of the terrorists is 21."
He said that three FC personnel deployed on the railway picket were killed, while one FC soldier was killed during the operation on Tuesday. The ISPR chief said that the bomb disposal squad was carrying out further clearance and inspecting the train and the surrounding area according to standard operating procedures.
General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said the passengers held captive, who had fled to surrounding area during the operation, were also being gathered. He stated, "No one can be permitted to make innocent people of Pakistan the victim of their barbarism in the streets, trains, buses or markets because of their misleading ideas and instructions and facilitation of foreign masters."
Vowing to take action against those responsible for it, he said, "Whoever does this, let me say it very clearly, will be hunted down and brought to justice. Let me also say that this incident of Jaffer Express changes the rules of the game."
Elaborating on the operation, he showed a monochromatic drone footage of the incident and pointed to three black blots or blobs on the screen and said they were the groups of passengers the terrorists had gathered, Dawn reported.
According to him, suicide bombers were sitting amid the passengers and next to them. He also mentioned it as the reason for the "slow and careful" progress of the military. He said the operation commanders had first taken out these suicide bombers in an operation on Wednesday. After this, passengers fled to nearby areas.
ISPR chief said that following this, the operation party entered the train and started to take out the suicide bombers aboard and began clearing the train bogey by bogey, as per the Dawn report. (ANI)