Hand grenades were found in three coaches of Jaffar Express, a train that had been targeted in a terrorist attack last week.
According to police, the coaches of Jaffar Express were brought to Quetta Railway Station last night, when four hand grenades were discovered in three of the coaches. One grenade has been weakened while the others are being made safe.
Railway sources report that the coaches brought late last night have been moved to the RailwayCo shed where they will be repaired.
On the other hand, Jaffar Express, scheduled to deviate from Quetta to Peshawar, will not leave tomorrow. The train’s repairs are still incomplete, and cleaning tasks are also awaiting. According to railway control, the train will only differ when the repair and cleaning work is fully completed.
Jaffar Express was attacked while traveling through Balochistan’s Bolan Pass. The train was hijacked and the terrorists held several passengers hostage inside a tunnel. A coordinated rescue operation of security forces followed, resulting in the release of hostages.
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, confirmed that no passengers were injured during the approval operation performed by security forces after terrorists hijacked Jaffar Express in the Bolan district, Balochistan.
“All 33 terrorists have been sent to hell …. Four Frontier Corps staff embraced martyrdom during the approval operation,” said LT Gen Chaudhry in an interview with a private news channel. However, before the clearance operation, he added 21 passengers to the terrorists.
“No one can have permission to make innocent people in Pakistan a victim of their barbarism in the streets, trains, buses or markets because of their misleading ideology,” DG Ispr said.
“He who does this, let me say it very clearly, will be chased down and brought to court. Let me also say that this incident by Jaffer Express changes the rules of the game,” he emphasized.
Meanwhile, Balochistan has ordered the closure of three universities in the province due to security concerns. Two universities in the provincial capital, Quetta, were closed indefinitely last week, while a third switched to virtual learning on Tuesday, according to a provincial administrative employee requesting anonymity.
