Quetta, Pakistan – Survivors of Tuesday’s deadly train hijacking by Baloch separatists have described how they watched fellow passengers being executed and fled while being shot at.
Dozens of fighters belonging to the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) targeted nine carriages of the Jaffar Express with rocket-propelled grenades and gunshots as it passed through colonial-era tunnels in the rugged, mountainous Bolan Pass.
The train, which departed from Quetta, the provincial capital of the southwestern province of Balochistan, at 9am (04: 00 GMT) for Peshawar, the capital of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, came under attack near Sibi city, about 160km (100 miles) from Quetta, at around 1pm (08: 00 GMT).
The train’s route makes a journey of more than 1, 600km (994 miles) through Punjab to reach its final destination, Peshawar. The trip takes roughly 30 hours, with stops at about 30 stations across the country.
On Wednesday night, Pakistan’s security forces said they had concluded a military operation against the fighters, rescuing 346 passengers, and killing all 33 of the attackers. But 26 passengers, the train driver and a paramilitary soldier were also killed, they said.
There were nearly 400 passengers on the train when it was attacked. The BLA, which said it was holding the passengers hostage, had on Tuesday given the Pakistan government a , 48-hour ultimatum, demanding the “unconditional release of Baloch political prisoners, forcibly disappeared persons and national resistance activists”.
Plain clothes security force perosnnel, who were rescued from a train after it was attacked, leave the railway station in Mach, Balochistan, Pakistan, on March 12, 2025]Naseer Ahmed/Reuters]
‘ They just took people aside and shot them ‘
Passengers who have been freed in the security forces ‘ operation described their hours of captivity as “horrific”.
“I saw so many killings in front of my eyes and I knew that I was the next, but I escaped with other passengers and colleagues on Wednesday morning”, Ghulam Sarwar, 48, told Al Jazeera.
An assistant subinspector of the Pakistan Railways Police, he was onboard the train and later made a daring escape with a group of passengers and fellow armed guards.
Sarwar was travelling on the train from Quetta railway station along with four other armed railway personnel and five soldiers who were charged with guarding the passengers, a regular practice. When the attack began, he said he and the other armed personnel returned fire.
“It was like a rain of rockets and bullets on the train, but we retaliated with gunfire”, he recalled. “When we ran out of bullets, they came down and started pulling the passengers from the train”.
The attackers began separating the passengers according to ethnicity by checking their identity cards, removing ethnic Punjabi passengers and those suspected of being part of the Pakistani military, and executing them. “They killed so many people”, Sarwar said. He could not count how many people were slain, he said, but he witnessed the fighters “just taking groups of people aside from the railway track and shooting them”.
“The killings continued until 10pm after a large number of attackers left the area after hugging some remaining fighters who stayed behind. They also killed anyone who attempted to escape”, Sarwar said.
Ghulam Sarwar, an assistant subinspector of the Pakistan Railways Police who was on board the Jaffar Express when it came under attack on Tuesday, rests back at home with friends and family at his residence in Quetta, Pakistan after his ordeal]Saadullah Akhter/Al Jazeera]
In the morning, Sarwar and another group of passengers and security personnel managed to escape from the site where the hostages were being held. “We ran out in the morning but another railway policeman who was with me was hit by a bullet on his back after the attackers started shooting at us from the near mountains”, he said. The policeman was killed, he said.
As he and his fellow passengers fled, they were fired upon by the separatist fighters but managed to make it 6km (4 miles) along the tracks to the nearby railway station at Panir, where Pakistani security forces were waiting to receive them.
‘ I saw a rocket hit the engine ‘
Murad Ali, 68, who was travelling to the southern city of Jacobabad with his wife, also witnessed the attack but was among those allowed to go free by the attackers. “I saw a rocket hit the engine of the train after we heard intense firing. They came inside our compartment and asked my identity and ethnicity]Sindhi] and then allowed me to go”, he said.
“I accompanied dozens of women and children and we followed the railway track for six kilometres on foot until we reached the Panir railway station after dusk where security forces took us to Mach railway station”, he told Al Jazeera. The couple then returned to Quetta.
Bibi Farzana, Murad’s wife, described the train as being “entirely covered with smoke due to firing and explosions”. She added: “They pulled off all the passengers but they separated ethnic Punjabis from the rest of the passengers”.
Murad Ali and his wife Bibi Farzana walk through the railway station in Quetta, Pakistan, where they returned on Tuesday night after being released by the attackers]Saadullah Akhter/Al Jazeera]
On Wednesday, Pakistan’s security officials said its forces had killed 30 fighters in the operation to rescue the hostages and that security clearance was still going on.
Balochistan province’s Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti said the attack was an attempt by separatists to give the impression that Quetta is a “violent environment”.
The government said it had deployed additional soldiers to Quetta railway station, and dozens of coffins have been dispatched to the attack site aboard a relief train from Quetta station.
Baloch separatists, who demand independence from Pakistan, accuse the state of abducting and persecuting those who speak out against it.
While this is the first time a whole train has been hijacked, there have been a series of attacks on trains in the past two years.
Many of Trump’s efforts to reshape the federal government have been challenged in court, often by employee unions or Democrat-led states that argue such decisions fall to Congress.
Some have faced temporary restraining orders or legal setbacks, while others have won short-term victories. Nearly all the cases are still navigating their way through the federal court system.
In addition, some federal employees have filed complaints directly with the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), a panel that enforces worker rights within the government. Last week, a judge blocked Trump’s efforts to fire the chair of the MSPB.
On Wednesday, one of the board’s decisions comes into effect, forcing the US Department of Agriculture — which oversees the Forest Service — to temporarily reinstate many of its fired probationary workers.
All of the legal wrangling has created a sense of confusion and uncertainty about the state of the workforce, during a time when many federal fire crews are preparing for the warm-weather months when fires tend to be more intense.
“Mentally, it’s pretty stressful”, said a helitack squad leader for the Department of the Interior with about 10 years of experience. Helitack crews are ferried to fires via helicopter.
“There are so many rumours going around. I’ve tried to limit my intake of information by getting off of social media”.
The helitack leader believes that, no matter what happens with the legal challenges and the staffing cuts, the government’s preparations for fire season will be delayed.
“Even if they could push a button and give the green light for all of these jobs, the start date is still going to be pushed back”, he explained. “And if someone joins a crew late that can definitely impact the preparedness of a crew and their overall ability to safely fight fire”.
A wildland firefighter who was recently preparing to join an engine crew with a federal agency in southern California said that she was told her onboarding would be delayed while the effect of the federal changes was worked out. She is unsure if she will be able to keep her job.
She has five years of experience with elite hotshot crews. But she was classified as a probationary worker after she accepted a job at a different federal agency to be closer to a family member experiencing health issues.
“This is my entire life”, she said in a message to Al Jazeera. “If this is taken away from me for no reason, I’ll have nothing”.
The uncertainty around hiring decisions has also created a sense of whiplash, where workers can receive reassuring news one day, only to see it reversed shortly after.
The hotshot crew member said that, in late February, she was told that a court had struck down some of the firings and that she would likely be able to move forward with her new firefighting position.
But a little more than one week later, she received a phone call informing her that she had been fired in her probationary period.
Pakistan’s military says at least 346 hostages have been freed from a passenger train that was hijacked by separatist fighters in Balochistan province in the country’s southwest.
A military spokesperson said the rescue operation had concluded on Wednesday and that all 33 attackers were killed.
At least 27 hostages and one paramilitary soldier were killed over the course of the standoff, security sources told Al Jazeera.
Fighters belonging to the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group seeking Balochistan’s secession from Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack on the Jaffar Express train on Tuesday. Spokesman Jeeyand Baloch had said the group was ready to free passengers if authorities agreed to release jailed fighters.
The train was travelling from Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, to Peshawar, the capital of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, when it was attacked. It was carrying more than 400 passengers when it was targeted while passing through tunnels near Sibi city, about 160km (100 miles) from Quetta.
Balochistan has been struggling with a lack of security for decades. The region is home to several armed groups, including the BLA. Since 2006, the group has been banned by both Pakistan and the US, which designates it as a “terrorist” organisation.
“The army has been very active]here], last year alone it killed 225 people … So there will be question marks as to whether there was adequate security on board that train, given the security risk”, said Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Quetta.
“People would like to have more security on those trains because they feel unsafe and they have voiced their concerns”, Hyder said.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province, home to around 15 million people, but despite its vast resources, it remains widely underdeveloped. Baloch people make up 3.6 percent of Pakistan’s population, 2 percent of Iran and 2 percent of Afghanistan.
Baloch separatists have repeatedly attacked the Jaffar Express in the last few years. It is commonly used by security personnel travelling from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. The last major attack on the train took place in November when a suicide bomber detonated himself at the Quetta railway station as it prepared to depart.
The BLA took responsibility for that attack, in which at least 30 people were killed.
In August 2024, attackers blew up part of a track in Balochistan, resulting in the suspension of the Jaffar Express for two months before services resumed in October. In January last year, separatists exploded another bomb on the train’s route near the Bolan area, injuring at least 13 people.
Islamabad, Pakistan – Security forces in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan say they have concluded a military operation against armed separatists who hijacked the Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express on Tuesday, rescuing 346 passengers.
Officials said the military had killed all 33 of the attackers from the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
The train, carrying nearly 400 passengers, had left Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, in the morning when it was intercepted by BLA fighters near a series of tunnels, about 160km (100 miles) away.
General Ahmed Sharif, director general of the Inter Services Public Relations, the military’s media wing confirmed that 27 civilians — including the train driver — and one paramilitary soldier involved in the operation had also been killed.
State Interior Minister Tallal Chaudhry told Al Jazeera that the fighters had used several hostages as “human shields”.
In recent years, the BLA has significantly expanded the scale and sophistication of its operations – conducting more than 150 attacks last year alone – culminating in this recent train hijacking.
But what is the BLA, when was it created, who are its leaders, what are the group’s demands, and how has it managed to wage a battle with the state for several years?
Why is there a secessionist movement in Balochistan?
Balochistan – Pakistan’s largest but least populous province – has a long history of marginalisation.
The province was annexed by Pakistan in 1948, six months after its partition from India in August 1947, and has witnessed several separatist movements ever since.
Home to about 15 million of Pakistan’s estimated 240 million people, according to the 2023 census, Balochistan remains the country’s poorest region despite being rich in natural resources such as coal, gold, copper, and gas. These resources generate substantial revenue for the federal government.
The province is also home to one of Pakistan’s major deep-sea ports at Gwadar, a crucial trade corridor for the $62bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which aims to link southwestern China to the Arabian Sea through Pakistan.
However, Baloch nationalists allege that the Pakistani state has neglected their people while exploiting the province’s resources, triggering separatist movements and armed rebellions.
When was the BLA created, and what led to its formation?
Balochistan has witnessed at least five separatist uprisings since Pakistan’s formation in 1947.
The latest wave began in the early 2000s, initially focused on securing a larger share of the province’s resources for its people but soon escalating into calls for complete independence.
With growing resentment towards the state, the BLA emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Analysts studying Baloch resistance movements say it was led by Balach Marri, son of veteran Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri.
The rebellion intensified in 2006 after the government, under military ruler Pervez Musharraf, killed prominent Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Balach Marri was also killed a year later, and the government subsequently banned the BLA. Balach Marri’s father, Nawab Khair Baksh Marri, passed away in December 2014.
Over the years, the BLA has distinguished itself as a group committed to Balochistan’s complete independence from Pakistan.
Unlike moderate Baloch nationalist groups advocating provincial autonomy, the BLA has never pursued a middle ground.
Malik Siraj Akbar, a researcher specialising in the Baloch separatist movement, says that while the BLA’s core demand for an independent Balochistan remains unchanged, its leadership, operational geography, and strategies have evolved over time.
“Today, the BLA operates with little to no influence from the Marri tribe. Instead, its leadership has shifted to educated Baloch figures, many of whom were once part of the non-violent Baloch Students Organization (BSO)”, he told Al Jazeera.
Who are the major leaders of the BLA?
The BLA took up arms against the Pakistani state due to what it considered the federal government’s “continuous misadventures”, which, it claimed, undermined genuine political and socioeconomic progress in the province.
Akbar notes that the BLA was initially a very secretive organisation, but a significant shift occurred when leadership transitioned from Marri tribesmen to middle-class Baloch leaders.
“The new leadership displayed a greater tendency to showcase their power and capabilities in the media. Among them, the most prominent figures include Aslam Baloch, who was later killed in 2018, and, more recently, Bashir Zaib, former student leader of the BSO”, Akbar added.
Fahad Nabeel, who leads the Islamabad-based research consultancy Geopolitical Insights, says Bashir Zaib Baloch is the current leader of the BLA and was likely behind the Jaffar Express hijacking.
Bashir Zaib, in his mid-40s, belongs to the Nushki district of Balochistan, situated 150km (93 miles) south of Quetta. He earned a diploma from a polytechnical college in Quetta.
“After Aslam Baloch’s death in a bomb attack in Kandahar, Afghanistan, the group’s leadership passed to Bashir Zaib Baloch”, Nabeel told Al Jazeera.
In 2010, the group launched its suicide squad – the Majeed Brigade, which remained dormant for a few years then came into prominence in 2018 when Aslam Baloch sent his own son to target Chinese engineers working in the Balochistan city of Dalbandin. The attack injured five people, including the three Chinese nationals, but there were no fatalities, apart from Aslam’s son.
That sparked a broader trend of the BLA attacking Chinese citizens and installations in recent years.
The group attacked the Chinese consulate in Karachi in November 2018, a month before Aslam Baloch’s death. Four people were killed, including two policemen, while the Chinese staff remained safe. Security forces were able to quell the attack within an hour, killing all three assailants.
However, Akbar notes that the BLA’s Majeed Brigade truly gained global attention when one of its female suicide bombers, Shari Baloch, targeted Chinese nationals at Karachi University in 2022.
At least four people were killed, including three Chinese nationals, after Shari, a 30-year-old woman, blew up a minivan outside the university’s Confucius Institute, a Chinese language and cultural centre.
Rehan is also in his mid-40s and is believed to be well-educated, with command over several languages, including English, Urdu and Persian.
According to Nabeel, a former Pakistani military official turned renegade, Rehman Gul Baloch, has significantly enhanced the group’s capabilities.
The former military man is in his early 40s, and is also from Nushki. A graduate of the University of Peshawar, he joined the Pakistan Army in 2002, but within eight years, decided to quit and join the BLA.
Rehman Gul Baloch, Nabeel said, has helped the group improve its “combat skills, enabling it to move from hit-and-run attacks to large-scale operations”.
How does the BLA recruit fighters?
Observers say the BLA’s greatest strength is its ability to enlist young, well-schooled soldiers.
“Recruiting young, educated fighters is no longer a challenge, as the group enjoys significant popularity among Baloch youth, despite the controversial nature of its operations”, Akbar says.
He adds that despite the group’s responsibility for civilian deaths, including Baloch citizens, and its use of female suicide bombers, such tactics have drawn only limited criticism.
“Instead, its appeal has grown among young Baloch, many of whom believe armed struggle is the only viable path for their people’s survival”, he added.
Imtiaz Baloch, a researcher at The Khorasan Diary (TKD), a platform tracking regional security, added that the BLA was able to gain sympathy among the people in part due to the state’s “incompetence”.
“High-handed state policies, bad governance, lack of accountability, and cases of enforced disappearances have become catalysts for militants to recruit and influence more sympathizers, including people with highly educated backgrounds such as professional IT experts, data analysts, and other professionals, thereby broadening their reach and social media influence”, he told Al Jazeera.
BLA fighters also claimed responsibility for targeting the Chinese Consulate building in Karachi in November 2018]File photo: Rehan Khan/EPA]
How does the BLA fund its operations?
While the BLA’s funding sources remain unclear, analysts suggest multiple revenue streams, including illicit activities such as extortion, smuggling and drug trafficking.
The Pakistan government claims India funds the BLA, but , Akbar, who says that most of the BLA leadership is in Pakistan after spending years in Afghanistan, says those assertions are hard to accept at face value.
“Given Pakistan’s tendency to blame India for almost every issue, such claims are difficult to accept without solid evidence”, he said. “If the government provides concrete proof of Indian support, only then will its accusations hold weight. What is clear, however, is that the BLA has a well-funded backer, and its fighters receive highly professional training tailored specifically for insurgency”.
Islamabad-based Imtiaz Baloch from The Khorasan Diary, however, said income from massive coal mines in Balochistan province is a main economic source for the group.
“The recent operations by the separatist Baloch armed groups have been highly effective, as they have utilised many American weapons. Following their withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, it was easy to procure]these] from the porous border it shares with Afghanistan”, he added.
Nabeel, on the other hand, said that he believes most of the BLA leadership is operating out of Iran and Afghanistan. He argued that the group generates funds from multiple illicit activities ranging from drug trafficking to kidnapping people for ransom.
“Certain individuals from the Baloch diaspora also provide financial support”, he said. “Their training takes place in Iran, Afghanistan, and certain parts of Balochistan, whereas weapons are procured from black markets operating in Iran and Afghanistan, along with leftover American weapons”.
How does the BLA build its narrative?
Akbar said that the failure of governance and “dissatisfaction” with the provincial government help the BLA increase its influence among a disenchanted public.
“Many view it]the provincial government] as more loyal to Islamabad than to the people of Balochistan, particularly because it refuses to take a stand on critical issues like enforced disappearances”, he said.
Muhammad Shoaib, an academic and a security analyst at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, said that the group has managed to spread its message using social media.
“BLA has learned the art of staying in news and keeping the state apparatus engaged on multiple fronts. The quantity of attacks and fronts tell us that BLA’s recruitment is increasing and now it can dedicate more resources and personnel for operations”, he told Al Jazeera.
Montreal, Canada – In his first speech as Canada’s prime minister-designate, Mark Carney delivered what observers have described as a stunning statement.
“I know that these are dark days,” Carney told a room full of supporters on Sunday after he won the race to lead the governing Liberal Party. “Dark days brought on by a country we can no longer trust. ”
The country in question? An ally with which Canada shares the world’s longest undefended land border and, until recently, seemingly unshakeable ties: the United States.
“That is jaw-dropping in the broader context,” Jon Parmenter, a history professor at Cornell University in New York state, said of Carney’s remark.
Experts say the idea that the US can no longer be trusted reflects a sentiment that has been spreading rapidly across Canada in recent months, however.
In that time, Canadians have watched with a mixture of shock, confusion and anger as US President Donald Trump repeatedly took aim at their country — both as part of his global trade policies and his expansionist ambitions.
Trump has imposed steep tariffs on Canadian goods and threatened more. He regularly calls for the annexation of Canada, and he has made unfounded and disparaging claims about outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Canadian electoral system.
“The damage to the relationship is substantial,” Parmenter told Al Jazeera. “It’s going to be long-lasting. ”
Yet, as Trump’s attacks against his country’s northern neighbour continue unabated, many observers are now asking: Why?
Why is the president targeting a country that had widely been viewed as one of the US’s most reliable partners? Why does Trump seem so fixated on Canada?
‘Closest target’
While the current US-Canada trade war is “unprecedented” in modern history, it is unsurprising in the context of Trump, according to Aaron Ettinger, a political science professor at Carleton University in Ottawa.
The US president pursued similar “America First” economic policies during his first term, Ettinger noted, including imposing tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium imports in 2018.
“None of this is new. We know this is coming. He’s telegraphed everything. But now he’s talking about 50-percent rates of tariffs. The aggressiveness is jacked up more than it was seven or eight years ago,” Ettinger told Al Jazeera.
Within the scope of the Trump administration’s adversarial approach to foreign policy, Ettinger said he doesn’t believe Canada is particularly special. Instead, it “just happens to be the closest target, along with Mexico”.
“Trump treats all countries as if they are subordinates to his wishes. He loves their leaders when the leaders play along, and he doesn’t when they don’t,” Ettinger said.
“So Canada is going to get hit with tariffs, just like European Union countries and Mexico. Canada just happens to be close by. Canada also happens to be playing against type and fighting back pretty hard right now. ”
The Canadian government has imposed retaliatory tariffs on billions of dollars worth of American goods, further stoking Trump’s ire. It has said the measures will remain in place until the US president rescinds and removes the threat of levies.
Personal animosity
Yet, Trump’s focus on Canada goes beyond tariffs and economic policy alone.
Even before he re-entered the White House in January, the Republican leader began urging Canada to become the 51st US state. He has repeatedly referred to Trudeau as a “governor” instead of a prime minister.
Trump also has framed the plan to annex Canada as a boon for Canadians and a way to dodge US tariffs.
“The people would pay much less tax than they’re paying right now. They’d have perfect military protection,” Trump recently said.
While Trudeau and other Canadian leaders at first shrugged off the remarks as good-natured ribbing, they quickly began to take Trump’s repeated calls for annexation more seriously.
Last week, Trudeau told reporters that Trump wants “a total collapse of the Canadian economy because that’ll make it easier to annex us”. The outgoing prime minister said Canada will never become part of the US and called the administration’s tariffs a “very dumb” policy.
Trump and Trudeau never had a particularly warm relationship, and they publicly clashed in 2018 over trade and tariffs as well.
That animosity could be playing a role in Trump’s recent rhetoric against Canada, said Geoffrey Kabaservice, vice president of political studies at the Niskanen Center, a centre-right think tank in Washington, DC.
“Trump is always looking for a way to exact revenge and retribution against people who have criticised him in the past, and certainly Trudeau would fall into that category,” he told Al Jazeera.
Trump and Trudeau meet during the G7 summit in France in 2019 [Carlos Barria/Reuters]
A ’19th-century’ vision
But Kabaservice said Trump’s “very 19th-century idea” of what it means to be a great power is at the heart of his annexation rhetoric.
“When Trump talks about wanting to ‘Make America Great Again’, one component of what he has in mind by greatness is a country that’s expansive, that reaches for and claims new territory, that enlarges itself,” he explained.
That said, when the US president says he wants Canada to be the 51st state, he likely isn’t thinking about what that would mean in practice, including how absorbing a country of 40 million people would alter American politics, said Kabaservice.
“It’s sort of like just [a] boy’s fantasy: ‘Wouldn’t it be great if America could expand to take in all these other countries? Wouldn’t it be great if America was like Britain back in its imperial days, when the world map was covered in red? ’
“I think that’s the level on which he thinks of these things. ”
And while Trump’s base may not have annexing Canada on its list of priorities, Kabaservice said, the US president’s supporters enjoy when he proposes things “that make his enemies and even many of his allies unhappy”.
“They applaud what they see as his audacity, his willingness to envision a new world, and his ability to ‘own the libs’ and make them cry. ”
According to Amy Koch, a Republican political strategist, Trump’s policies vis-a-vis Canada should also be seen as part of a wider push for dominance in the Western hemisphere.
Tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods, calls to retake control of the Panama Canal and acquire Greenland, and an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” are all elements of that effort.
“It is [about] fully establishing dominance in the Western Hemisphere, and I think Canada is a part of that,” Koch told Al Jazeera.
‘Tactics without strategy’
Wherever Trump’s real motivation lies, observers agree that his stance towards Canada could have a lasting effect.
“The whole point about Donald Trump is that he is a bully, and bullies bully people who are susceptible to their strengths. And that’s what he’s doing,” said Kabaservice.
“Trump can do things like levy tariffs because he has the leverage over Canada and he has the latitude in terms of the responsibility of the chief executive … But we’re also in the process of destroying trust with our allies and that will be immensely difficult to rebuild. ”
Ettinger added that, while people in the US and Canada keep trying to find the rationale behind Trump’s actions, the president may ultimately be “employing tactics without strategy”.
For example, US stock markets plunged this week amid the uncertainty around Trump’s tariffs push, raising fears that the country could slip into a recession.
