Conflict Zones
Pakistan links train hijacking to ‘Afghan handlers’ and Indian mastermind | Conflict News
Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan on Friday claimed that the hijacking of the Jaffar Express train earlier this week was carried out by “terrorists” who were communicating with “handlers in Afghanistan”, while alleging that India was the mastermind behind it.
“We must understand that in this terrorist incident in Balochistan, and others before, the main sponsor is eastern neighbour [India],” Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the director general for the military’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said during a news conference in Islamabad.
Chaudhry also referred to the media coverage carried out by Indian mainstream channels, which relied on videos shared by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the separatist group responsible for the attack, and accused them of using images generated by artificial intelligence or old incidents.
During the briefing which lasted more than an hour, Chaudhry, along with Balochistan’s Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti, offered some details of the military operation — named Operation Green Bolan — that culminated in the release of hundreds of passengers from the train following a 36-hour standoff that began on March 11.
According to Chaudhry, a total of 354 passengers were rescued, while 26 passengers and security officials were killed. In addition, 33 fighters belonging to the BLA were also killed.
While the military had earlier said that 21 civilians or security personnel had been killed, Chaudhry stated that as security officials cleared the area, more injured individuals were found, some of whom later died.
Of the 26 killed, 18 belonged to the army or paramilitary forces, three were railway staff members and five were civilian passengers.
‘Aerial Units’ for reconnaissance
Chaudhry said that four hours after the train had departed from Quetta, the BLA attackers intercepted the train 32km (20 miles) from Sibbi city, just before it entered a tunnel in the Bolan Pass region, known for its rugged, mountainous landscape.
“The BLA terrorists intercepted the train using an improvised explosive device. Before that, they began their raid in large numbers and encountered a paramilitary checkpoint, eliminating three soldiers there. Once the train was stopped, they kept the women and children inside while taking the men outside as hostages,” he said.
“As soon as the incident happened, we activated our response teams and started to monitor the situation while maintaining an appropriate distance,” Chaudhry said.
While Chaudhry did not disclose specifics, visual evidence from the briefing indicated that the Pakistani military relied heavily on drones to monitor the situation.
Intelligence sources also confirmed that reconnaissance teams and aerial units were deployed within an hour of the train being stopped.
The general said that the BLA segregated passengers based on ethnicity, a fact that was confirmed to Al Jazeera by survivors, as well.
“They divided people into smaller groups based on ethnicity. While a large number of BLA fighters moved away to their hideouts in the mountain, a smaller group remained with the hostages,” he said. Many of the fighters who remained at the site “were suicide bombers,” he added.
Chaudhry stated that intelligence monitoring revealed the abductors were using walkie-talkies to allegedly communicate with their “handlers in Afghanistan.”
How did the operation unfold?
The military said that on the night of March 11, more than eight hours after the hijacking, a group of women, children, and elderly passengers were released, who walked to the nearest train station, 6km (four miles) away.
Intelligence monitoring by security agencies at the time suggested the potential presence of suicide bombers among the hostages. On the morning of March 12, Chaudhry said, military snipers killed several BLA fighters, enabling some hostages to escape amid the chaos.
The main ground operation was then prepared, to be led by the Zarrar Company, an elite unit of the Army’s Special Services Group (SSG), which specialises in operations against armed groups.
“It is a highly trained unit uniquely equipped for counterterrorism situations, including hostage crises. The company commander is a major-ranked officer,” an intelligence source said.
Showing a video clip, Chaudhry noted that as the operation commenced, many hostages sitting outside the train ran for safety.
“By midday on March 12, Zarrar Company had completed its situational assessment. Tracking BLA communications revealed potential suicide bombers were stationed near the hostages. They were eliminated first, after which the troops made their way inside the train,” the general added.
“It demonstrates the professionalism and competence of our troops that there was not a single hostage casualty during the rescue operation,” he said.
All the fighters were killed. Security officials told Al Jazeera that they could not capture anyone alive due to the nature of the operation.
“As a matter of policy, capturing insurgents remains important to our doctrine, but a hostage situation offers little room for that. If you want to rescue the hostages, actions must be precise and surgical,” a security official said, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
How have India and Afghanistan responded?
Following the news conference, neither India nor Afghanistan issued an immediate response.
However, earlier on Friday, officials from both countries strongly reacted to Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Thursday, which also blamed both nations.
“India has been involved in terrorism in Pakistan. In the attack on Jaffar Express, the terrorists were in contact with their handlers and ring leaders in Afghanistan,” Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said during his weekly news briefing in Islamabad yesterday.
Khan added that intercepted communications confirmed links between the attackers and Afghanistan.
“The terrorists have safe havens in Afghanistan, and Pakistan has repeatedly urged the Afghan interim government to prevent groups like the BLA from using its soil for terrorism,” he said.
The Indian government categorically rejected Pakistan’s allegations.
“We reject the baseless accusations made by Pakistan. The whole world knows where the epicentre of global terrorism is. Pakistan should look within itself instead of blaming others for its internal problems and failures,” Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement on Friday.
Afghanistan also denied any connection between the attackers and its territory.
“Pakistan should focus on its security and resolving its internal issues instead of making irresponsible statements,” a statement from Kabul read.
The Taliban-led government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi also urged Pakistan on social media to “focus on resolving its security and internal issues instead of making such irresponsible comments”.
Balkhi also claimed that no BLA members were present in Afghanistan and denied any connection between the group and Afghanistan.
Last month, a United Nations report stated that the Afghan Taliban, in power since August 2021, provides support to the Pakistan Taliban (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP), which has carried out multiple attacks in Pakistan.
It further said that the BLA reportedly has ties with both the Pakistan Taliban and the ISIL affiliate in Khorasan Province (ISKP), indicating a broader convergence of armed groups with distinct, but intersecting agendas.
Conflict Zones
US-backed GHF suspends Gaza aid for full day, names new evangelical leader | Israel-Palestine conflict News
Israeli military warns access roads to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s (GHF) aid distribution sites are now considered ‘combat zones’.
The United States- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) will suspend aid distribution in the war-torn territory on Wednesday, a day after Israeli forces again opened fire on Palestinian aid seekers near a GHF distribution site, killing at least 27 and injuring more than 100.
Israel’s military also said that approach roads to the aid distribution centres will be “considered combat zones” on Wednesday, and warned that people in Gaza should heed the GHF announcement to stay away.
“We confirm that travel is prohibited tomorrow on roads leading to the distribution centers … and entry to the distribution centers is strictly forbidden,” an Israeli military spokesperson said.
In a post on social media, GHF said the temporary suspension was necessary to allow for “renovation, reorganisation and efficiency improvement work”.
“Due to the ongoing updates, entry to the distribution centre areas is slowly prohibited! Please do not go to the site and follow general instructions. Operations will resume on Thursday. Please continue to follow updates,” the group said.
The temporary suspension of aid comes as more than 100 Palestinian people seeking aid have been reported killed by Israeli forces in the vicinity of GHF distribution centres since the organisation started operating in the enclave on May 27.
The killing of people desperately seeking food supplies has triggered mounting international outrage with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres demanding an independent inquiry into the deaths and for “perpetrators to be held accountable”.
“It is unacceptable that Palestinians are risking their lives for food,” Guterres said.
The Israeli military has admitted it shot at aid seekers on Tuesday, but claimed that they opened fire when “suspects” deviated from a stipulated route as a crowd of Palestinians was making its way to the GHF distribution site in Gaza.
Israel’s military said it is looking into the incident and the reports of casualties.
On Tuesday, GHF named its new executive chairman as US evangelical Christian leader Reverend Dr Johnnie Moore.
Moore, who was an evangelical adviser to the White House during the first term of United States President Donald Trump, said in a statement that GHF was “demonstrating that it is possible to move vast quantities of food to people who need it most — safely, efficiently, and effectively”.
The UN and aid agencies have refused to work with the GHF, accusing the group of lacking neutrality and of being part of Israel’s militarisation of aid in Gaza. Israel has also been accused of “weaponising” hunger in Gaza, which has been brought about by a months-long Israeli blockade on food, medicine, water and other basic essentials entering the war-torn territory.
Moore’s appointment is likely to add to concerns regarding GHF’s operations in Gaza, given his support for the controversial proposal Trump floated in February for the US to take over Gaza, remove the Palestinian population, and focus on real estate development in the territory.
After Trump proposed the idea, Moore posted video of Trump’s remarks on X and wrote: “The USA will take full responsibility for future of Gaza, giving everyone hope & a future.”
Responding on social media to UN chief Guterres’s outrage following the killing of aid seekers in Gaza on Sunday, Moore said: “Mr Secretary-General, it was a lie… spread by terrorists & you’re still spreading it.
The GHF’s founding executive director, former US marine Jake Wood, resigned from his position before the Gaza operation began, questioning the organisation’s “impartiality” and “independence”.
Critics have accused GHF, which has not revealed where its funds come from, of facilitating the Israeli military’s goal of depopulating northern Gaza as it has concentrated aid distribution in the southern part of the territory, forcing thousands of desperate people to make the perilous journey to its locations to receive assistance.
Conflict Zones
Five UN food aid workers killed in Sudan ambush as hunger crisis deepens | Sudan war News
Deadly attack on United Nations convoy in Sudan disrupts aid to hunger-stricken families in the war-torn country.
An ambush on a United Nations food aid convoy in Sudan has killed at least five people, blocking urgently needed supplies from reaching civilians facing starvation in the war-torn Darfur city of el-Fasher.
Aid agencies confirmed on Tuesday that the 15-truck convoy was transporting critical humanitarian supplies from Port Sudan to North Darfur when it was attacked overnight.
“Five members of the convoy were killed and several more people were injured. Multiple trucks were burned, and critical humanitarian supplies were damaged,” the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) said in a joint statement.
The agencies did not identify the perpetrators and called for an urgent investigation, describing the incident as a violation of international humanitarian law. The route had been shared in advance with both warring parties.
The convoy was nearing al-Koma, a town under the control of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), when it came under fire. The area had witnessed a drone attack earlier in the week that killed civilians, according to local activists.
Fighting between the RSF and the Sudanese army has raged for over two years, displacing millions and plunging more than half of Sudan’s population into acute hunger. El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, remains one of the most vulnerable regions.
“Hundreds of thousands of people in el-Fasher are at high risk of malnutrition and starvation,” the UN statement warned.
Both sides blamed each other for the attack. The RSF accused the army of launching an air attack on the convoy, while the army claimed RSF fighters torched the trucks. Neither account could be independently verified.
The attack is the latest in a string of assaults on humanitarian operations.
In recent weeks, RSF shelling targeted WFP facilities in el-Fasher, and an attack on El Obeid Hospital in North Kordofan killed several medical staff. Aid delivery has become increasingly perilous as access routes are blocked or come under fire.
A female suicide bomber and another suspected rebel were killed in a blast in Uganda’s capital city.
Two suspected Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels, including a female suicide bomber, were killed in an explosion near a prominent Catholic shrine in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, as crowds gathered to mark Martyrs’ Day.
The blast on Tuesday took place in the upscale suburb of Munyonyo, outside the Munyonyo Martyrs’ Shrine, where Ugandans were assembling to commemorate 19th-century Christians executed for their faith. No civilian injuries were reported.
“A counterterrorism unit this morning intercepted and neutralised two armed terrorists in Munyonyo,” said army spokesman Chris Magezi on X. He confirmed one of the assailants was a female suicide bomber “laden with powerful explosives”.
Footage broadcast by NBS Television, an independent outlet, showed a destroyed motorbike and debris scattered across the road. Police Chief Abas Byakagaba told NBS the explosion occurred while “two people were on a motorcycle,” adding: “The good thing, though, is that there were no people nearby who were injured.”
There has been no immediate claim of responsibility.
While Ugandan authorities are still piecing together the events, Magezi suggested the suspects were linked to the ADF, a rebel group that originated in Uganda in the 1990s but later relocated to eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The ADF has pledged allegiance to ISIL (ISIS) and was behind a spate of deadly bombings in Uganda in 2021.
The group has been accused by the United Nations of widespread atrocities, including the killing of thousands of civilians in the region.
Martyrs’ Day is one of Uganda’s most significant religious holidays, drawing thousands of pilgrims annually. Security forces have increased patrols across the capital in the aftermath of the incident.
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