2022 Video Of BLA Attack Goes Viral As Pakistan Train Hijack

A 59-second video of multiple explosions near a train has gone viral on social media, claiming to show the hijacking of the Jaffar Express in Pakistan by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) on Tuesday (March 11). “The Baloch Liberation Army hijacked a train and took 120 passengers hostage. They are fighting against the tyranny of the Pakistani govt towards the Baloch people and for a free Balochistan. They aren’t terrorists but freedom fighters. Hope they get back their Balochistan soon,” read an X post, which has clocked 54.3K views so far, while another stated more than 100 Pakistani soldiers were killed.

 ‘Over 100 Hostages Freed’

Separatist militants launched an attack on the Jaffar Express, a passenger train carrying around 500 people in southwestern Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Tuesday. The security forces reportedly informed that 16 militants were killed and 104 passengers were rescued. The BLA claimed responsibility for derailing the train, asserting that they had seized control, killed 30 security personnel, and taken 214 passengers, including active-duty military personnel, as hostages. The BLA, designated by the US and Pakistan as a terrorist organisation, has been engaged in a decades-long insurgency against the Pakistan government, seeking independence for the natural resource-rich province.

Fact Check

Newschecker scanned through the comment section and found a comment pointing out that the video was old. The user also shared a longer version (1:46) of the video, where an infographic at the beginning states that the purported attack killing multiple soldiers aboard a train happened in Mashkaf, Sibi, northeast of Balochistan, on January 18, 2022.

A relevant keyword search led us to the same video uploaded on X on April 15, 2022, stating that the BLA has released footage of an IED attack on a train carrying FC (Frontier Corps) personnel near Sibi, Balochistan.

The beginning portion of the video was also featured in a News9 Plus X post (See 00:05 mark), dated September 12, 2022, on a feature story on how Pakistan’s high-handed policies have triggered violent resistance in Balochistan.

UPDATE ON 12/03/2025: Newschecker looked up the social media accounts of BLA, where we found that although the organisation is not present on Facebook, Instagram and X, it is active on Telegram and Canadian social media platform Rumble.

We then ran a relevant keyword search on Telegram and found a press release, dated January 18, 2022 on a Telegram account associated with BLA, issued by Jiand Baloch, spokesperson of the BLA.

According to the press release, the BLA claimed responsibility for an IED attack on the Jaffar Express going from Quetta to Punjab in Mashkaf near Sibi on January 18, 2022. A further search led us to a video uploaded by BLA’s official media cell Hakkal  on April 14, 2022, which contained visuals of attacks carried out by the BLA in 2022. At the 5:48 mark, we can see the viral excerpt, where the place, date and time of the attack were listed as Mashkaf, Sibi; 18 January 2022; and 2:30pm respectively, along with the BLA logo, further confirming that the viral video is from 2022.

Also Read: Deepfake Video Of Mia Khalifa Calling Hardik Pandya Her Favourite Cricketer Goes Viral

Conclusion

A video of a BLA attack on a train in January 2022 has been falsely linked to the 2025 train hijacking in Pakistan.

Source
X post, Rohan Panchigar, April 15, 2022
News9Plus post, X, September 12, 2022
Press Release, BLA Telegram account
Videos uploaded by BLA media wing
(with inputs from Runjay Kumar, Newschecker Hindi)