The Pakistan Army announced on Wednesday that the Jaffar Express hostage-rescue operation was completed successfully and all attackers present at the site were killed by security forces and the hostages freed.
Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry confirmed the completion of the complex operation, elaborating that units from the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Special Services Group (SSG), army and Frontier Corps (FC) took part.
“All 33 terrorists have been sent to hell…no harm was caused to any passenger during the clearance operation,” the DG ISPR said.
However, he added, before the clearance operation was initiated, 21 passengers were killed by the terrorists.
Divulging details of the incident, Lt Gen Chaudhry said the terrorists targeted a railway track in Bolan on March 11, stopped the Jaffar Express and took passengers hostage. “The militants used hostages, including women and children, as human shields,” he added.
Furthermore, he said that the attackers had placed the hostages in groups with suicide bombers sitting amongst them. “Security forces snipers took out the suicide bombers,” he added.
“The terrorists remained in contact with their facilitators and mastermind based in Afghanistan via satellite phone during the clearance operation,” he revealed.
“Around 100 passengers were safely rescued yesterday evening from the terrorists, and today as well, a large number of passengers have been recovered,” he added.
He noted that all terrorists present on the site of the incident were killed, however, the clearance of the train and area were being carried out by the bomb disposal squad as per the standard operating procedure.
Besides this, Lt Gen Chaudhry said that hostages who fled to nearby areas during the operation were being gathered as well.
Elaborating on the final clearance operation that was conducted earlier today, the ISPR chief said the armed forces cleared all boogies one by one and “sent 33 terrorists to hell”.
“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,” he added,
The military spokesperson noted that the incident of Jaffer Express has changed the game’s rules. “Whoever did this will be hunted down and brought to justice,” he added. He added that the terrorists had nothing to do with Islam, Pakistan and Balochistan.
In a statement released later, the military’s media wing said a sanitization operation is also being conducted in the area and “abettors of this cowardly and henious act will be brought to justice”.
