Pakistani insurgents opened fire on Tuesday (March 11, 2025) at a passenger train in the country’s restive southwestern Balochistan province, wounding the driver and prompting security guards aboard the train to fire back, officials said.
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The attack occurred in the Bolan district as the train was traveling from the provincial capital of Quetta to the northern city of Peshawar, said government spokesman Shahid Rind.
After the driver was wounded, the train came to a stop in a deserted area, Rind said and added that reinforcements were heading to Bolan to respond to the attack. He had no further details and the situation with the train and its passengers was not immediately clear.
The separatist Baloch Liberation Army, which has been waging a yearslong insurgency in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack. Officials at Pakistan Railways said the Jafar Express train was carrying an estimated 400 passengers.
Trains in Balochistan typically have security personnel on board as separatists have previously carried out deadly attacks on trains and security forces in the region. In November, a the separatist group carried out a suicide bombing at a train station in Quetta that killed 26 people, including security personnel, railway staff and passengers.
The oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest but also least populated province. It is a hub for the country’s ethnic Baloch minority whose members say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government.
Published – March 11, 2025 04:46 pm IST