In autumn 2018, the Jaffar Express, a train headed for Punjab, narrowly dodged a double explosion as Baloch rebels attempted to detonate remote-controlled explosives targeting the passenger train. The blasts occurred just 200 feet from the train.
This recent attack is part of a troubling trend. The train frequently transports personnel of the Pakistani forces between Quetta and Punjab, making it a prime target for groups such as the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). In 2023 alone, the train faced assaults twice within a span of two months, both at the same location. On January 19, a bomb explosion derailed the train, injuring at least 13 individuals while it was traveling through Bolan district, about 150 kilometers from Quetta. A month later, another incident saw the train—this time from Quetta to Peshawar—fall prey to an explosion that resulted in one fatality and multiple injuries. The previous November, a devastating blast at Quetta railway station claimed at least 26 lives and left over 40 injured, including women and children.
For more than two decades, the BLA has conducted a low-intensity insurgency in Balochistan, primarily using guerrilla warfare tactics. However, since 2018, there has been a notable shift in the group’s strategy, as they have started incorporating suicide attacks and meticulously planned operations. The transition became evident in August 2018, when the BLA targeted a bus carrying Chinese engineers, marking the resurgence of their suicide bombing unit, the Majeed Brigade, named in honor of a BLA commander killed by the Pakistani military in Quetta in 2010.
Following this attack, the BLA has executed over a dozen significant suicide bombings across locations like Gwadar, Karachi, Turbat, and Bolan, leaving the Pakistani government in disarray. Additionally, the BLA has intensified its campaign against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. In October of last year, the Majeed Brigade orchestrated a “suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device” attack that targeted a convoy of Chinese engineers and investors departing from Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, resulting in approximately 50 deaths, including Chinese nationals and their security personnel. Recent bombings at Darul Uloom Haqqania, often referred to as the ‘University of Jihad’, along with the assassinations of clerics like Mufti Shah Mir, exemplify this intensified violence.
In response to the rising threats, the military established a “Special Security Division” in 2016 to safeguard Chinese investment projects and target Baloch political and social activists. Mir was in charge of one of the death squads created for this purpose. Although the BLA presents a significant challenge, it is not the sole concern for the Pakistani government. The TTP has also amplified its attacks against Pakistan this year, with a recent incident resulting in the deaths of over a dozen security personnel in twin suicide bombings at a military base in Bannu.
Stay updated on live developments regarding the Pakistani train hijack.
