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QUETTA: The Pakistani army took control of a main railway station in the southwestern Balochistan province on Wednesday as security forces continued to try and rescue hundreds of people taken hostage by separatist militants.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Balochistan Liberation Army bombed part of a railway track and stormed the Quetta-Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express in Mushkaaf, an area in the mountainous Bolan area. The group  later said it was holding 214 people hostage, including military, police and intelligence officials. A security official said 190 passengers had been rescued by Wednesday afternoon.

The province has been the site of low-level insurgency for decades, with separatist groups accusing the government of stripping the province’s natural resources and leaving its people in poverty. They claim security forces routinely abduct, torture and execute ethnic Baloch, allegations echoed by human rights campaigners.

Government officials and security forces strongly deny violating human rights and say they are improving the province through development projects, including multi-billion-dollar schemes funded by China.

On Wednesday afternoon, an eyewitness told Arab News he had seen dozens of empty coffins being brought to Quetta railway station, which was overrun by army personnel while dozens of the hostages’ family members arrived in search of their loved ones. These included those of Amjad Yasin, 50-year-old driver of the Jaffar Express, who officials said was killed during Tuesday’s assault.

“We have been contacting railway officials since yesterday, but no one is telling the truth,” Amir Yasin, the driver’s younger brother, told Arab News. “There are multiple reports coming about my brother’s death but how can we believe it until we see his body?”

Railway official Ghulam Muhammad Sumroo said 16 passengers, including two injured Railway Police officers, had reached Mach railway station and were being moved to Quetta.

Muhammad Abid, a railway employee who was on the train and arrived at Mach, described the attack as the most horrific day of his life.

“We were sitting in one of the compartments of (the) Jaffar Express when a powerful explosion targeted the train and intense firing started,” he told Arab News during a phone call.

“We hid in the washrooms with other passengers, but then armed men came in and off-boarded us from the train. After checking our identity cards, they asked us to run on the track. My life flashed before my eyes when I saw dozens of armed men standing on the railway track.”

Muhammad Ashraf, a 68-year-old passenger traveling to Hafizabad in Punjab to meet his daughter, said that he heard an explosion followed by intense gunfire shortly after the train departed from Paneer railway station.

“Armed men boarded the train and asked everyone to leave the train or prepare to die,” he told Arab News, adding the militants made passengers walk on the tracks for three and a half hours.

Ashraf estimated more than 200 passengers had been detained.

A security official with direct knowledge of the ongoing rescue operation to take back control of the train said 190 passengers had been freed and at least 30 militants killed. He added there were suicide bombers on board the train using women and children as human shields.

“Due to the presence of women and children with suicide bombers, extreme caution is being exercised in the operation,” the official said. “Security forces are continuing their operation to eliminate the remaining terrorists.”

The official added the militants were in touch with their “handlers” in Afghanistan, echoing the belief of Pakistani security and government officials that a recent spike in militancy was being orchestrated from the neighboring country. Taliban rulers in Kabul deny they allow Afghan soil to be used by insurgents to plan or carry out terror attacks.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the BLA, which has demanded a prisoner exchange within 48 hours, said Pakistan’s government was not taking its demands seriously and was trying to free hostages through military action.

“BLA warns the enemy that if the Pakistani army commits any further aggression, even if a single bullet is fired, 10 more personnel will be eliminated,” it said.

“If our demands are not met within (the stipulated) time and the state’s stubbornness continues, then five hostages will be eliminated for every passing hour after the ultimatum ends.”