Jaffar Express attack: 21 passengers perished prior to the clearance operation; all terrorists were killed: DG ISPR

Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), announced on Wednesday that no passengers were hurt during the security forces’ clearance operation following the terrorist hijacking of the Jaffar Express in the Bolan area of Balochistan.
“All 33 terrorists have been sent to hell…. Four Frontier Corps personnel embraced martyrdom during the clearance operation,” Lt Gen Chaudhry stated in an interview with a private TV station. He did, however, clarify that the terrorists had killed 21 people before to the clearing operation.

“No one can be permitted to make innocent people of Pakistan the victim of their barbarism in the streets, trains, buses or markets because of their misleading ideology,” stated the director general of ISPR.

“I want to make absolutely clear: anybody does this will be found and prosecuted. Let me add that the terms of the game have changed as a result of the Jaffer Express event,” he said.

The cross-border aspect of the operation was further highlighted by the DG ISPR’s confirmation that the terrorists had communicated with their handlers in Afghanistan.

He disclosed that the extremists placed the hostages in groupings, including suicide bombers, and used them as human shields, including women and children. The threat was quickly eliminated by the security forces, he said, with snipers eliminating the suicide bombers.

According to security officials, the Jaffar Express, which carried more than 400 people in nine bogies, was attacked Tuesday in the Dhadar neighborhood of Bolan Pass when it was traveling from Quetta to Peshawar.

It all began Tuesday afternoon when armed gunmen stopped the train in a remote, mountainous part of the province. The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a terrorist organization responsible for the increase in violence in the region, instantly claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to the security officials, the assailants stormed onboard the train after bombing the railway track.