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Pakistani security forces killed all 33 insurgents who have been holding a train and its passengers captive since Tuesday, putting an end to an embarrassing security failure for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The government also said 21 of the hostages had been killed by militants.
Four members of the military were killed and 17 hostages were injured in the gunbattle, and the remaining passengers — more than 400 people — have now been freed, army spokesman Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said in a video released by his office Wednesday. Many of the militants wore suicide vests and used the passengers as human shields, according to security officials familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified speaking about sensitive information.
The outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army took responsibility for the attack, and claimed to have killed 20 soldiers in the operation, according to Pakistani media. Militants from separatist groups like BLA have been attacking security forces in mineral-rich Balochistan for decades, but the frequency has increased in the past few years. The attack comes as Pakistan’s government tries to rebuild an anemic economy and lure investment, while struggling to control violence from militants.
The train had left Quetta on Tuesday bound for Peshawar with about 450 passengers aboard, according to Ishtiaq Soomro, the deputy in-charge at the railway police control room in Quetta.
Imtiaz Gul, executive director of the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies, said seizing a passenger train appears to be a new strategy for the BLA, which had previously attacked infrastructure.
“This is a tactic to terrorize both common people and security apparatus,” Gul said. “They have scaled the ladder.”
The security situation in Pakistan is also an economic issue, with China, which has built major infrastructure and energy plants in Pakistan, last year urging Islamabad to provide a safe environment for its projects after militants targeted a convoy of Chinese workers at Port Qasim Electric Power Co. near Karachi. Two Chinese nationals died in the incident.
China Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning strongly condemned the latest attack during a regular press briefing in Beijing on Wednesday.
“China firmly opposes terrorism in any form,” Mao said. “We will continue to firmly support Pakistan in combating terrorism, maintaining solidarity and social stability, and protecting the safety of civilians.”
–With assistance from Allen Wan.
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