In Pakistan a train was hijacked on Tuesday by members of the Pakistani organization Beloetsjistan Liberation Army (BLA), who fights for the southwestern province of Beloetsjistan. After a firefight between the separatists and security guards on the train, the vehicle came to a halt in a tunnel. All four hundred passengers were detained for hours. Later, Bla announced in a statement that he had released ‘citizens, in particular women, children and residents of Beloetsjistan’. 182 people would still be hostage. Executions are threatened.
The train left on Tuesday morning from the provincial capital Quetta to Peshawar, a ride of thirty hours through a large part of the country. The Jaffar Express did not get far. The train staff was attacked less than 150 kilometers from the starting point. According to Bla, members of the organization blew on the track. The operator would have been injured. Authorities state that the train has been “fiercely under fire”. The province has announced a state of emergency. Ambulances from the neighboring city of Sibi are ready to be deployed, but have trouble reaching the rugged terrain.
The same long -distance train – with more than thirty intermediate stations an important connection throughout Pakistan – was also the target of attacks that were claimed by the Bla last year. For that reason, the route was not used for a while.
Independent Beloetsjistan
In a bla spread declaration The group states that “every military operation to put an end to the action will lead to their death. The occupation troops will then be fully responsible for the massacre ”.
That is a warning to the national army of Pakistan. The rebels of the BLA want an independent Beloetsjistan. They regularly commit terrorist attacks in the region, on order forces, police and other attendees that they regard as ‘invaders’. For decades, Beloetsjistan has been the battlefield of groups such as Bla, who want the province to be separated from the rest of Pakistan and releases itself from the Chinese influences in the region.
The region, on the border with Afghanistan and Iran, is known as rich in natural resources and minerals, and therefore also enjoys a lot of international interest. In recent years, BLA and other groups also committed attacks on Chinese infrastructure projects and mining in the province.
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Due to BLA’s attacks, 225 people died last year, inventory The Islamabad -based think tank Pak Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS). Analysts then warned that, despite severe military actions against the group, Bla seems to grow and can carry out more and more advanced attacks. The management of the organization also explicitly sets itself up as a representative of the population of the Province of Beloetsjistan, where distrust of the national government and a sense of disadvantage prevail.
The Pakistani Minister of the Interior, Mohsin Naqvi, has condemned the hostage and said that the government will not make any concessions “to the animals that open the fire on innocent travelers.”