In Pakistan, rebels hijack a train, holding 180 passengers, mostly soldiers, hostage.
By : Vidya
In a statement, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which aims to free Balochistan from Pakistan, claimed to have taken over a train and held more than 180 people captive, the most of them were Pakistani soldiers. According to the BLA, a number of Pakistani military soldiers were also murdered.
The Pakistani government was given 48 hours by the BLA to free all Baloch political detainees and "forcibly disappeared persons."
When it was shot upon, the Jaffar Express, carrying more than 450 passengers in nine bogies, was traveling from Quetta in the southwest Pakistani province of Balochistan to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, railway officials told news agency Reuters.
Muhammad Kashif, a top railway administration official in Quetta, earlier told news agency AFP, "Gunmen are holding over 450 passengers on board hostage."