Pakistan insurgents take dozens of hostages in attack on train, police say

Passengers who were rescued from a train after it was attacked by separatist militants, walk with their belongings at the Railway Station in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan, March 12, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Separatist militants blew up a railway track and opened fire on a passenger train in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, taking dozens of hostages and battling security forces conducting a rescue operation, police and the insurgents said.

Police have not specified how many passengers were taken hostage in the remote mountainous area but the insurgents said they were holding 214 people, and have threatened to start executing them.