Pakistan's leader meets survivors of deadly train hijack and the commandos who ended the siege

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was in the restive southwestern Balochistan province on Thursday to meet survivors of a train attack and the commandos who rescued over 300 passengers from insurgents who killed 21 civilian and four troops.

The Baloch Liberation Army, an outlawed group behind multiple deadly attacks in recent months, claimed responsibility for the attack that began Tuesday and ended Wednesday when troops killed all 33 insurgents in an operation that the military said resulted in no further passenger deaths.

The train was heading from the Balochistan capital, Quetta, to the northern city of Peshawar when insurgents blew up the track, forcing nine coaches and the engine of the Jafer Express train to stop partially inside a tunnel.

The BLA regularly targets Pakistani security forces and has attacked trains, but had never been able to hijack any train in the past. They have also attacked outsiders such as Chinese workers, thousands of whom are involved in multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects in Balochistan.

Oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest and least populated province. Members of the ethnic Baloch minority say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government.

Amid tight security, Sharif and members of his Cabinet were received by senior government officials on his arrival at an airport in Quetta, his office said. It provided no further details. Authorities said arrangements were made to transport the bodies of victims to their hometowns and people who were wounded were receiving medical treatment.

Shafqat Ali Khan, the spokesman at Pakistan's ministry of foreign affairs, told reporters in Islamabad that BLA assailants who hijacked the train were in contact with their handlers in Afghanistan.

“Our security forces successfully eliminated all 33 terrorists, including suicide bombers, while rescuing the hostages,” he said.

Khan said the attackers had been "in direct communications with Afghanistan-based planners throughout the incident” and Pakistan has repeatedly asked Kabul “to deny the use of its soil for terrorist groups like BLA for their attacks against Pakistan.”

“We urge Afghanistan to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers, of this reprehensible act of terrorism accountable and cooperate with the government of Pakistan to bring all those who are concerned with this attack, including the real sponsors of terrorism to justice,” Khan said.

In an overnight statement, the military said it had “confirmed intelligence” indicating that the assault was “orchestrated and directed by terrorist ring leaders operating from Afghanistan, who were in direct communication with the terrorists throughout the incident.”

In Kabul, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, rejected the Pakistani charges, saying: “We are saddened by the loss of life of innocents in the incident.”

However, the military in the statement urged the Afghan Taliban government to uphold its responsibilities and deny the use of its soil for terrorist activities against Pakistan.

According to a military statement, the “terrorists, after blowing up the railway track, took control of the train and held the passengers hostage including women, children and elderly, using them as human shields."

Many survivors said the assailants opened fire on the windows of the train, entered the cars and killed or wounded people before taking them hostage.

Three soldiers who had been guarding the railroad track were among those killed, according to military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif.

Seperately, Pakistani security killed 10 militants after spotting them near a military facility in South Waziristan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, officials said.

Authorities said those killed were members of Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTT. The group is an ally of the Taliban in Afghanistan and has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban seized power there in 2021.

Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this story.

An injured victim of a passenger train attacked by insurgents, shifts to another ward after receiving initial treatment at a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, Thursday March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

An injured victim of a passenger train attacked by insurgents, receives treatment upon arrival at a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, Thursday March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

Rescue workers transport a coffin containing the body of a victim from a passenger train attacked by insurgents, upon arrival at a railway station in Much, Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, Thursday March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

An injured victim of a passenger train attacked by insurgents, receives treatment upon arrival at a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, Thursday March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

An injured victim of a passenger train attacked by insurgents, receives treatment upon arrival at a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, Thursday March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

Ambulances wait for the arrival of the bodies of victims from a passenger train attacked by insurgents at a railway station in Much, Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, Thursday March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Rescue workers transport a coffin containing the body of a victim from a passenger train attacked by insurgents, upon arrival at a railway station in Much, Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, Thursday March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Rescue workers transport a coffin containing the body of a victim from a passenger train attacked by insurgents, upon arrival at a railway station in Much, Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, Thursday March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Passengers rescued by security forces from a passenger train attacked by insurgents arrive at a railway station in Much, Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, Thursday March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Passengers rescued by security forces from a passenger train attacked by insurgents arrive at a railway station in Much, Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, Thursday March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Rescue workers transport a coffin containing the body of a victim from a passenger train attacked by insurgents, upon arrival at a railway station in Much, Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, Thursday March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Passengers rescued by security forces from a passenger train attacked by insurgents arrive at a railway station in Much, Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, Thursday March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Passengers rescued by security forces from a passenger train attacked by insurgents arrive at a railway station in Much, Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, Thursday March 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Israel's military carried out an airstrike Thursday on a residential building on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus that it said was a command center of the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The military alleged that the command center has been used to direct attacks against Israel and vowed to “respond forcefully” to the presence of Palestinian militant groups inside Syria.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said the building targeted is located in the suburb of Dummar, northwest of the capital. It said one person was killed.

Defense Minister Israel Katz warned in a statement that “whenever terrorist activity is organized against Israel,” Syria’s new President Ahmad al-Sharaa “will find air force planes circling above him and attacking terrorist targets.”

Also Thursday, United Nations-backed experts accused Israel of “the systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other gender-based violence” in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s mission to the U.N. in Geneva rejected the allegations and accused the The Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which was created by the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council, of relying on “second-hand, single, uncorroborated sources.”

Israel has refused to cooperate with the commission, accusing it and the council of being biased against it.

Here's the latest:

A Palestinian Islamic Jihad member at the scene of the airstrike in Syria told The Associated Press that the apartment that was targeted was the home of the group’s leader Ziad Nakhaleh.

Ismail Sindak said the apartment had been empty for years, adding that Nakhaleh is not in Syria. Asked whether anyone was killed in the strike, Sindak said “the house was empty.”

It was not immediately clear where Nakhaleh is but he is believed to spend his time between Lebanon, Iran and Syria.

The Israeli military said its air force conducted an intelligence-based strike on a command center belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Damascus. It added that command center was used to plan and direct “terrorist activities” by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad against Israel.

Syria’s state news agency says an Israeli airstrike has struck a residential building on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus.

The agency did not give further details about Thursday’s airstrike.

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed that it carried out an airstrike on a residential building in Damascus.

Israel’s military said that the strike targeted a command center of the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It said that the center has been used to direct attacks against Israel and vowed to “respond forcefully” to the presence of Palestinian militant groups inside Syria.

Katz warned in a statement that “whenever terrorist activity is organized against Israel,” Syria’s new President Ahmad al-Sharaa “will find air force planes circling above him and attacking terrorist targets.”

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said the building targeted is located in the suburb of Dummar, northwest of the capital and was inhabited by Palestinians. It said one person was killed.

Israel says it has sent 10,000 packages of food aid to Syria’s Druze, as it seeks to forge ties with the minority to shape the country’s troubled transition from civil war.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Thursday that the operation was conducted in recent weeks in coordination with local Druze leaders, with most of the aid delivered to the overwhelmingly Druze southern region of Sweida.

Israel says it is supporting an embattled minority in a country now ruled by Islamists. But many Druze have rejected its overtures, and critics accuse Israel trying to weaken and divide Syria following the overthrow of President Bashar Assad.

Israel seized a buffer zone in southern Syria shortly after Assad’s overthrow and has carried out waves of airstrikes to destroy Syria’s military. It has ordered the new security forces not to operate south of the capital, Damascus.

Israel says it is acting in Syria to protect its citizens from Iran-backed groups that were allied with Assad as well as the new government, led by a former senior al-Qaida leader who cut ties with the group several years ago.

United Nations-backed experts on Thursday accused Israel of “the systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other gender-based violence” in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s mission to the U.N. in Geneva rejected the allegations and accused the The Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which was created by the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council, of relying on “second-hand, single, uncorroborated sources.”

Israel has refused to cooperate with the commission, accusing it and the council of being biased against it.

In its report released Thursday, the commission examined the widespread destruction of Gaza, the use of heavy explosives in civilian areas and Israeli attacks on hospitals and health facilities. It said all three led to “disproportionate violence against women and children.”

Israel says it took extraordinary measures to avoid harming civilians in the 15-month war, which has been paused by a fragile ceasefire. It blames civilian deaths and destruction on Hamas because the militants operate in residential areas.

The commission also accused Israeli security forces of rape and sexual violence against Palestinian detainees. Israel denies any systematic abuse of prisoners and says it takes action when there are violations.

The commission is led by former U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay. Its findings can be used as evidence for the International Criminal Court or other bodies that seek to prosecute war crimes.

Israel has refused to cooperate with the commission, accusing it and the council of being biased against it.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. A U.N. envoy last year said there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas committed rape and sexual violence in the attack.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants.

Firemen work at the site of an Israeli missile strike in Damascus, Syria, Thursday March 13, 2025.(AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

Firemen work at the site of an Israeli missile strike in Damascus, Syria, Thursday March 13, 2025.(AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

Firemen work at the site of an Israeli missile strike in Damascus, Syria, Thursday March 13, 2025.(AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

Firemen work at the site of an Israeli missile strike in Damascus, Syria, Thursday March 13, 2025.(AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

Firemen work at the site of an Israeli missile strike in Damascus, Syria, Thursday March 13, 2025.(AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

Firemen work at the site of an Israeli missile strike in Damascus, Syria, Thursday March 13, 2025.(AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

Syrian security forces inspect vehicles at a checkpoint, following a recent wave of violence between Syrian security forces and gunmen loyal to former President Bashar Assad, as well as subsequent sectarian attacks, in Latakia, in Syria's coastal region, Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

An aerial view of part of the town of Jableh, one of the epicenters of recent violence and revenge killings in Syria's coastal region, on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)

Displaced Palestinians lives in a school run by UNRWA, the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees, west of Gaza City, Sunday, March 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)