Jaffar Express attack mastermind killed in Afghanistan: sources

ISLAMABAD: A mastermind of the Jaffar Express terrorist attack and operational commander of the India-backed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) was killed in Afghanistan, security sources said on Saturday.

Gul Rehman, aka Ustad Mureed — the senior commander of BLA’s Majeed Brigade, was killed in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, the sources added. According to Indian media reports, Gul Rehman was killed on September 17.

The outlawed BLA, during the attack on the Jaffar Express in the second week of March, blew up train tracks and held over 440 passengers hostage in a day-long standoff with security services in a remote mountain pass in the Bolan district.

The security forces, after clearing the train and rescuing hostages, killed at least 33 attackers. Before the operation began, terrorists had martyred 26 passengers, while four security personnel were also martyred during the operation.

Gul Rehman was also involved in attacks on innocent citizens, personnel of security agencies, Chinese nationals and other institutions, the sources further said. “The terrorist linked to Fitna al-Hindustan also targeted different projects of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).”

A surge in terrorist activities has been witnessed in recent days by Fitna al-Khawarij terrorists in Pakistan, who are sheltering on Afghan soil and are funded and sponsored by India’s RAW — the Research and Analysis Wing.

The uptick in cross-border terror incidents has been occurred since Taliban rulers returned to Afghanistan in 2021, particularly in the bordering provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

Recently, Pakistan had asked the Afghan Taliban government to cut ties with the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and meet its commitment to eliminate the terror group from Afghan soil, cautioning that failure to act would be treated as “hostile” activity.

Earlier, Islamabad conveyed its message through the Afghan interim ambassador in Pakistan, who was summoned to the Foreign Office the other day. The envoy was told in clear terms that Afghanistan’s Taliban regime must ensure its soil is not used for terrorist activities.

In July, the government in Islamabad urged the United Nations to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a hub for terror.

“We must ensure that Afghanistan does not become a breeding ground for terrorists that threatens not only its neighbours, but the region and beyond,” Pakistan’s Permanent Ambassador to the UN Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said while addressing a UN General Assembly’s plenary session on the situation in Afghanistan.