Briefly

PAKISTAN

Militants hold train passengers hostage

Armed militants held hundreds of train passengers hostage on Tuesday in an ongoing siege claimed by a separatist group that is behind rising violence in southwestern Pakistan. The militants wounded the driver as they took control of the train in a remote, mountainous area of Balochistan Province which borders Afghanistan and Iran. "Over 450 passengers onboard are being held hostage by gunmen," Muhammad Kashif, a senior railway government official in Quetta, the capital of the province, told AFP. Security forces said an explosion had been heard around the tunnel and that they were exchanging fire with the militants in a mountainous area. The attack was immediately claimed by the separatist Balochistan Liberation Army. In a statement, it said gunmen bombed the railway track before storming the train. Pakistan's interior minister, Mohsin Naqvi, condemned the attack and said the government would not make any concessions to "beasts who fire on innocent passengers". The Balochistan government has imposed emergency measures to deal with the situation.