India, March 11 -- The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) which seeks independence for Balochistan from Pakistan in a statement claimed responsibility for taking control of a train and keeping over 180 passengers, most of them Pakistani soldiers, hostages.

Several Pakistani military personnel were also killed, the BLA said.

The Jaffar Express, with over 450 passengers on board in nine bogies, was on its way from Quetta in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when it was fired on, railway officials told news agency Reuters.

In a statement signed by its spokesperson Jeeyand Baloch, the BLA said the hostages would be killed if Pakistani forces launched an operation.

The BLA fighters blew up the railway...