Pakistan security forces free 190 hostages in train siege

SIBI (Pakistan), Mar 12 (AFP): Pakistan security sources on Wednesday said the military had freed 190 train passengers taken hostage by gunmen on the second day of a siege in the mountainous southwest.

More than 450 passengers were on board when a separatist militant group captured the train in a remote frontier district, with an unknown number of hostages still being held.

"So far, 190 passengers have been rescued, and 30 terrorists have been killed. Due to the presence of women and children with suicide bombers, extreme caution is being exercised," security sources told AFP.

"The operation continues to eliminate the remaining militants." Attacks by separatist groups who accuse outsiders of plundering natural resources in Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, have soared in the past few years.

The assault was immediately claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army, who released a video of an explosion on the track followed by dozens of militants emerging from mountainous hiding places and storming onto the carriages.

"Information suggests that some militants have fled, taking an unknown number of hostages into the local mountainous

areas," a security official in the area told AFP.