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Pakistan forces rescue 190 hostages after train attack

Security sources said Baloch militants had made bombers wearing ‘suicide jackets’ sit next to some of the hostages

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Separatist militants hijack train and take hostages in southwest Pakistan

Separatist militants hijack train and take hostages in southwest Pakistan
Reuters
Militants wearing suicide vests are seated among passengers held hostage in a train hijack in southwest Pakistan, the government said on Wednesday, hampering rescue efforts as a deadline nears for when the attackers said they would start to kill people.

Militants said on Wednesday they had killed 50 hostages after hijacking a train that was carrying more than 400 passengers.

Reuters could not independently verify the number of those killed.

Dozens of separatist Balochi militants blew up a railway track and threw rockets on Tuesday at the Jaffar Express, carrying more than 400 passengers, a security official said. So far, 190 of them have been rescued, government officials said.

Hundreds of troops and teams in helicopters have been drafted into the effort to rescue the hostages in the remote mountainous area where the train was stopped. The train driver and several others have already been killed, officials say.

But Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) militants, with bombs strapped to their bodies, were sitting next to passengers, junior interior minister Talal Chaudhry told Geo television.

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