Quetta: Pakistani troops freed dozens of train passengers taken hostage by armed militants in the country's southwest, with hundreds more still being held in the deadly siege, AFP reported on Tuesday.

The militants wounded the driver as they took control of the train, which had more than 400 passengers. Meanwhile, News agency Reuters, citing local police, reported that the militants have taken 35 passengers hostage and 350 others are believed to be safe. 

The train is trapped in a remote, mountainous area of Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran. Security sources told AFP that heavy gunfire was ongoing between security forces and the militants.

The attack was immediately claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) which is fighting for independence and accuses outsiders of profiting from the region's wealth. 

"Security forces have successfully freed 80 hostages, including 43 men, 26 women, and 11 children, from the terrorists," security sources told AFP, adding that 13 militants had been killed. "Efforts are ongoing to ensure the safe release of the remaining passengers. The terrorists have been surrounded, and the operation will continue until the last terrorist is neutralized."

A nearby railway station in Mach has been turned into a makeshift hospital to receive some of the wounded. The driver of the train, a police officer and a soldier were all killed in the assault, according to paramedic Nazim Farooq and railway official Muhammad Aslam, both at Mach railway station.

Meanwhile, the BLA said it had killed 30 soldiers and shot down a drone. There was no confirmation of that from Pakistani authorities.

"Civilian passengers, particularly women, children, the elderly, and Baloch citizens, have been released safely and given a secure route," the BLA said in a statement emailed to journalists and posted on Telegram. The group "warned of severe consequences" if an attempt is made to rescue the hostages.

The incident happened around 1:00 pm (0800 GMT) in rural Sibi district, near a city station where it had been due to stop.

"A passenger train called the Jaffar Express was stopped by armed militants," said a senior government official in Sibi, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media. "The passengers are being held hostage, and the driver has been injured."

The train had left Quetta for Peshawar, in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at around 9:00 am.

According to a government official, an emergency has been imposed at hospitals in Sibi. 

A senior police official from the area bordering Sibi, who asked not be named because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said that "the train remains stuck just before a tunnel surrounded by mountains". The area is a mountainous region making it easier for militants to have hideouts and plan attacks.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack, saying security officials were "repelling" the militants. Interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, also condemned the attack and said the government would not make any concessions to "beasts who fire on innocent passengers".

Security forces have been battling a decades-long insurgency in impoverished Balochistan, which militant groups claim is being exploited by outsiders, with wealth from its natural resources syphoned off with little benefit to the local population.

Violence has soared in the western border regions with Afghanistan, from north to south, since the Taliban took back power in 2021. More than 1,600 people were killed in attacks in Pakistan in 2024- the deadliest year in almost a decade, according to the Center for Research and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based analysis group.

BLA militants killed seven Punjabi travellers in February after they were ordered off a bus. At least 39 people were killed in coordinated attacks last year that largely targeted ethnic Punjabis.

In November, the BLA claimed responsibility for a bombing at Quetta's main railway station that killed 26 people, including 14 soldiers.