The Pakistani Army has started its operation to free the Jaffar Express train which has been hijacked by Baloch rebels in Pakistan. It is being told that the Pakistan Air Force has carried out air strikes in Dhadar and Mushkaf areas of Bolan, where the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) had hijacked the Jaffar Express train and held the passengers hostage.

There are no reports of casualties of the hostages and attackers yet. However, several reports have claimed that the BLA has killed about 30 Pakistani army personnel.

Baloch militants in Pakistan opened fire on a passenger train carrying hundreds of passengers on Tuesday. There were about 500 passengers in the nine bogies of the Jaffar Express. The train was going from Quetta in southwestern Balochistan province to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when it was fired upon. According to media reports, police and railway officials said that a train driver was injured in the attack. In a statement, the militant separatist group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack and said that they had taken people hostage, including security forces, from the train.

The BLA claimed that it had taken more than 200 people hostage and more than 20 security personnel were killed in its operation. It says that security officers are also among those taken hostage. Government spokesman Shahid Rind said that the Balochistan government has implemented emergency measures and all institutions have been mobilized to deal with the situation.

Let us tell you that separatist militant groups in troubled Balochistan have carried out frequent attacks against the army and Chinese projects in the region. The BLA wants independence for Balochistan. It is the largest of several ethnic insurgent groups that have fought the Pakistan government for decades. The organization says that the government is unfairly exploiting the rich gas and mineral resources of Balochistan. BLA has been declared a terrorist organization by Pakistan, Iran, China, United Kingdom, United States, United Nations, European Union.