Train compartments sustain minor damage after unidentified armed men fired rockets, but no casualties reported
Unidentified armed men attacked the Jaffar Express in Balochistan’s Dera Murad Jamali, firing multiple shots and launching four rockets at the passenger train. However, security forces swiftly retaliated, foiling the assault and forcing the attackers to flee.
In the attack, several train compartments sustained minor damage, but no casualties were reported. Officials said the prompt response from security personnel averted a major tragedy and ensured the safety of all passengers.
Following the attack, the train was halted at Dera Murad Jamali Railway Station, while law enforcement agencies launched a large-scale search operation to track down the assailants. Railway authorities confirmed that the situation was brought under control and security was tightened along the route.
This is not the first time the Jaffar Express has come under attack. Earlier this year, the passenger train was briefly hijacked in the mountainous Bolan Valley, and in September last year, it was also targeted near Quetta Railway Station.
Last month, explosion struck a railway track in the Dasht area of Mastung district in Balochistan, targeting the Jaffar Express traveling from Peshawar to Quetta and wounding a dozen passengers.
Officials said the device was an improvised explosive planted near the track, which detonated as the train passed. The blast caused four bogies to derail and left several passengers, including women and children, injured.
Railway authorities confirmed that the explosion severely damaged the track, forcing a suspension of train services in the area. An investigation has been launched, though no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Read More: 21 passengers died before clearance operation
Earlier in March, terrorists hijacked the Jaffar Express train carrying over 400 passengers in nine bogies. Before clearance operations could begin, the attackers martyred 21 passengers. Jaffar Express was on its way from Quetta to Peshawar when it came under attack in the Dhadar area of Bolan Pass.
They also detonated explosives in tunnels and on the tracks before opening fire, bringing the train to a halt in a mountainous area of Sibi district, Balochistan, which was difficult for security forces to access.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, no passengers were harmed during the clearance operation carried out by security forces.
“All 33 terrorists have been sent to hell…. Four Frontier Corps personnel embraced martyrdom during the clearance operation,” said Lt Gen Chaudhry in an interview with a private news channel. However, he added, before the clearance operation, 21 passengers were martyred by the terrorists.
“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,” DG ISPR said. “Whoever does this, let me say it very clearly, will be hunted down and brought to justice. Let me also say that this incident of Jaffer Express changes the rules of the game,” he added.
The DG ISPR also confirmed that the attackers had been in contact with their handlers in Afghanistan, underlining the cross-border nature of the operation.
He revealed that the militants used hostages, including women and children, as human shields, placing them in groups, with suicide bombers among them. The security forces swiftly neutralised the threat, with snipers taking out the suicide bombers, he added.
