section_path: Rescue
section_name: Rescue
paragraph_text: Rescue
  
  Pakistani security forces launched a large-scale counter-operation — named Operation Green Bolan — at the site. The security forces engaged in the conflict, freeing a majority of the hostages and killing most of the insurgents. Lasting for over 30 hours, the hostage crisis concluded on 12 March 2025 with 354 total hostages being rescued according to Pakistan's military. Pakistani officials accused the BLA of using women and children as human shields, which the insurgent group denied.
  
  The rescue was performed mainly by Zarrar Company, an elite unit of the Army’s Special Services Group (SSG). According to Junior Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry, the Pakistan military sent in hundreds of troops and also deployed the airforce and special forces. The special forces first killed the suicide bombers and then troops went from carriage to carriage to kill the rest of the militants.
  
  Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his ministers visited Balochistan in response to review the situation and express solidarity with its victims. According to a witness, he and other hostages did not have any food and had to drink water from the train's restroom; the Pakistani army provided the rescued hostages food and water.