Gunmen take 450 train passengers hostage in Pakistan

Armed men held hundreds of train passengers hostage on Tuesday in an ongoing siege claimed by a separatist group behind rising violence in southwestern Pakistan.

The armed men wounded the driver as they took control of the train in a remote, mountainous area of Balochistan province which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

"Over 450 passengers onboard are being held hostage by gunmen," Muhammad Kashif, a senior railway government official in Quetta, the capital of the province, told AFP.

"Passengers include women and children," he added.

The attack was immediately claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) which is fighting for independence and accuses outsiders of profiting from the region's wealth.

In a statement, it said gunmen bombed the railway track before storming aboard the train.

"The gunmen swiftly took control of the train and have taken all passengers hostage," said the statement released to media.

The group "warned of severe consequences" if an attempt is made to rescue the hostages.

The incident happened around 1:00 pm (0800 GMT) in rural Sibi district, near to a city station where it had been due to stop.

"A passenger train called the Jaffar Express was stopped by armed men," said a senior government official in Sibi, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media.

"The passengers are being held hostage, and the driver has been injured."

The train had left Quetta for Peshawar, in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa -- a more than 30-hour journey -- at around 9:00 am.

An emergency has been imposed at hospitals in Sibi, according to the government official.

A senior police official from the area bordering Sibi, who asked not be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said that "the train remains stuck just before a tunnel surrounded by mountains".

The area is a mountainous region making it easier for armed men to have hideouts and plan attacks.

Source: AFP