Pakistan train attack survivors 'crouched for hours' to survive

By Saleem Ahmed

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Hostages freed after a day-long ordeal following an attack by militants on a train in Pakistan's Balochistan province described crouching on the floor for hours before their release, as the bodies of 25 people killed arrived in Quetta.

The separatist Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack on the Jaffar Express, during which they blew up train tracks and held passengers hostage in a day-long standoff with security services in a remote mountain pass.

Pakistan's military said it had killed 33 attackers and that the siege had ended, but the claim was refuted by the BLA, which said in a Thursday statement that it still had hostages and the battle with security services was ongoing.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the BLA claims.

Men armed with rocket launchers, guns, and other weapons stormed the train and began shooting people, said Arslan Yousaf, one of several rescued hostages who arrived in regional capital Quetta on Thursday, escorted by security forces.

The militants grouped the passengers on the basis of their region of origin, Yousaf added.

"Sometimes, they took soldiers ... and executed them," he said, referring to passengers from the Pakistan Army and other security forces who were travelling on leave.

"Other times, they targeted specific individuals. If they had a grudge against someone, they shot him on the spot."

HOSTAGES ONLY GIVEN WATER

The hostages survived only on water during the time they were held, said Muhammad Tanveer, another passenger.

The BLA are fighting a decades-long insurgency to win independence for the mineral-rich province, home to major China-led projects such as a port and a gold and copper mine.

A total of 21 hostages and four security troops were killed in the standoff, according to the military, but the BLA - the largest of Balochistan's armed ethnic groups battling the government - said 50 hostages were executed.

"The terrorists breached the train by smashing windows, but they mistakenly believed we were dead," said train driver Amjad, who dived to the engine floor for cover when the militants opened fire and crouched there for about 27 hours to survive.

Mehboob Ahmed, 31, who was shot several times, said the hostages made two attempts to escape from the train and while some succeeded, many were killed as the armed men opened fire.

"We had nearly lost hope for survival," he said.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Quetta on Thursday for a briefing on the security situation.

"No such incident has ever happened in the history of Pakistan," Sharif told a meeting of parliamentarians and military officers in the city.

BLA said that the people Pakistan "claimed" to have rescued were actually released by the group itself.

"Now that the state has abandoned its hostages to die it will also bear responsibility for their deaths," the group's spokesperson, Jeeyand Baloch, said in a statement on Thursday.

(Reporting by Saleem Ahmed and Charlotte Greenfield; Writing by Sakshi Dayal in New Delhi and Shilpa Jamkhandikar in Mumbai; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Sharon Singleton)