Islamabad [Pakistan], March 13 : Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) leader, Omar Ayub Khan strongly condemned the recent attack on the Jaffar Express in Balochistan.
Addressing the National Assembly of Pakistan on Wednesday, Khan questioned Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's government and intelligence agencies, asking why they failed to detect the gathering of terrorists on the railway line.
"Who allowed 80, 100, or 50 terrorists to gather on the railway line?" Khan asked.
"If even five workers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf gather, be it Sindh Police, Balochistan Police or Punjab Police, tear gas, batons and live bullets are immediately fired, intelligence agencies come into action, and they are handcuffed and dragged away like Gog and Magog. Why didn't they see these terrorists?" he added.
Earlier in the day, security forces confirmed that they successfully eliminated 33 rebels from the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) who hijacked the train, taking over 400 passengers hostage on Tuesday.
The two-day operation involved units from the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Special Services Group (SSG), Army, and Frontier Corps (FC) taking part in the operation, as reported by Geo News citing the army's spokesperson statement.
According to Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the terrorists "remained in contact with their facilitators and mastermind based in Afghanistan via satellite phone."
Notably, 21 passengers were killed by the terrorists before the operation began, and four Frontier Corps personnel also lost their lives during the attack. However, all remaining hostages were freed, bringing an end to the crisis, the military's spokesperson confirmed.
On March 11 in Bolan, terrorists targeted a railroad track around 1 pm and blew it up and stopped the Jaffar Express. According to railway officials, the train had 440 passengers.
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