After 30 intense hours, the Pakistani military successfully completed the rescue operation of the Jaffar Express hostages. The Pakistani army claims to have eliminated all 33 rebels from the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) during the operation. However, spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry reported that 21 hostages were also killed in the operation.
An official report from the BBC quoted the army spokesperson stating that over 300 hostages were freed by the Pakistan Army. Among the 440 passengers on the train were 100 security personnel.
One of these security personnel, a police officer, recounted the terrifying experience of the train hijacking. In an interview with BBC Urdu, he described the scene as extremely horrifying, stating that he and his colleagues continued to fight the rebels to the very last bullet.
The Last Stand of Determined Officers
The police officer, speaking anonymously, revealed that the Jaffar Express was traveling under the open sky rather than through a tunnel when suddenly an explosion on the track forced the train to halt. Within moments, terrorists emerged from the surrounding hills, launching a barrage of rockets.
'They were everywhere, numbering in hundreds, while we were just 75 police officers, supported by two Frontier Corps soldiers,' he shared.
According to the officer, as the rebels advanced toward the train, they decided to utilize every bullet available strategically. Each team member fired deliberately, trying to keep the rebels at bay.
They exhausted all their ammunition in an intense standoff that lasted an hour and a half, with heavy gunfire exchanged from both sides.
Running Out of Ammo: The Train's Fateful Siege
The officer continued that once their limited ammunition was depleted, the rebels seized the opportunity to take control of the train. They descended from the hills, captured the train, and took the police officers on board hostage before forcing all passengers to disembark. They inspected the passengers' identities, segregating them based on ethnicity.
The rebels threatened that if Pakistan's government failed to meet their demands, they would start executing the passengers and set the train ablaze. They had restrained all military personnel.
An Escape Against All Odds
Explaining how he managed to escape, the officer said, 'As night fell, the majority of the attackers departed, leaving a group of 20 to 25 rebels to guard us. In the cover of darkness, some hostages attempted to flee, but the rebels shot at them, causing them to fall dead.'
As dawn broke the next day, additional forces from the Frontier Corps arrived at the scene, distracting the rebels. Seizing this chance, the officer and a few others successfully escaped from their captors.
