Pakistani security forces have been locked in a deadly standoff with armed militants for more than a day after the attackers seized a passenger train on Tuesday and held hundreds hostage.
The crisis is a dramatic escalation of a long-running separatist insurgency in the country’s southwest.
The Baloch Liberation Army, or B.L.A., a banned separatist group, seized the train, which was carrying more than 400 people, in a remote mountainous region.
The group claimed to be holding at least 214 people, including military personnel and civilian law enforcement officers. It demanded that the government release its imprisoned members within 48 hours, threatening to execute the hostages if the demand was not met.
By Wednesday morning, security authorities said that more than 150 hostages had been rescued, though the fate of the remaining passengers remained uncertain. Officials also reported that at least 27 militants had been killed in the continuing operation and that hostages were being held at three separate locations.
Muhammad Tallal Chaudry, the minister of state for interior, told the Geo TV news channel on Tuesday night that some hostages had been taken into the nearby mountains.
Independent verification of events remains difficult because the hijacking took place in a remote, mountainous region with practically no cell or internet connectivity, restricting the reach of journalists. So far, information has come solely from security officials and the B.L.A. The Pakistani military, which is mainly conducting the rescue operation, has not issued an official statement.
The train was traveling from Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan, to Peshawar. But it became stranded inside a tunnel about 100 miles from Quetta as it came under attack, and the conductor was killed, according to the authorities.
After the capture of the train, Pakistan Railways announced that it would temporarily suspend train operations in Quetta and that they would resume only after security agencies had inspected and confirmed the system’s safety.
Muhammad Ashraf was among a group of 80 passengers who were freed last night and said he reached a nearby railway station after walking for hours along the tracks.
“When the train was attacked, everyone threw themselves to the floor, using luggage and sacks to shield themselves from the bullets,” Mr. Ashraf said by phone after reaching Quetta. “Screams were echoing everywhere.”
The militants took all of the passengers hostage but later released parties traveling with women and children, he said.
Baluchistan, a large and sparsely populated province that borders Iran and Afghanistan, has long been plagued by separatist violence and insurgent activity. The province is also home to major China-led projects, including a strategic port.
Ethnic separatist groups have regained momentum, increasingly attacking security forces and Chinese citizens involved in projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s infrastructure investment program. The separatists accuse Pakistan’s government of allowing China to extract the region’s wealth.
Experts, however say that separatist groups have become increasingly emboldened and sophisticated in their operations, now incorporating tactics such as suicide bombings — an approach that was previously associated primarily with Islamist militants operating in northwestern Pakistan and Afghanistan for the past several decades.
“The ability of the B.L.A. to hijack a train with such precision suggests an advanced intelligence-gathering network and strategic planning,” said Dost Muhammad Barrech, an academic at the University of Balochistan in Quetta.
Just last week, an alliance of separatist groups, including the B.L.A., announced plans to intensify attacks on Pakistani security forces, infrastructure and Chinese interests in the region.
Last year, the B.L.A. carried out one of Pakistan’s deadliest terrorist attacks, a suicide bombing that killed at least 25 people, including security personnel, at a busy railway station in Quetta.
The group also claimed responsibility for another deadly bombing targeting a convoy carrying Chinese nationals near Karachi’s international airport, in Pakistan’s largest city.
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