Armed militants have reportedly taken some 450 train passengers hostage in Pakistan's volatile southwestern Balochistan province, officials said.
The Baloch Liberation Army has threatened to execute all the hostages it has in its custody if the Pakistani authorities attempt to intervene.
'Over 450 passengers onboard are being held hostage by gunmen,' Muhammad Kashif, a senior railway government official in Quetta, the capital of the province, told AFP.
In a statement the BLA said: 'During this operation, BLA fighters have released women, children, and Baloch passengers, ensuring that all remaining hostages are serving personnel of the occupying forces.'
The Jaffar Express was on its way from Quetta in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when it was fired on, railway officials said.
In a statement, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a militant separatist group, claimed responsibility for the attack and said they had taken hostages from the train, including security forces.
Officials from the provincial government or railways did not confirm that hostages being taken.
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