At least 450 taken hostage in Pakistan train attack
(LONDON) — At least six military personnel have been killed and 450 people have been taken hostage after the Balochistan Liberation Army, a militant group, attacked a train in Pakistan, according to a U.S. official.
The BLA has threatened to kill all the hostages if Pakistan’s military tries to rescue them, the official said.
The BLA blew up part of the track, forcing the train to stop, before they boarded and took control, according to the official.
The attack happened in mountainous area right before a tunnel, making a rescue very difficult, they said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Security forces and emergency workers respond to the scene of a shooting attack that targeted a bus and other vehicles on January 6, 2025 in the Palestinian village of Al-Funduq, West Bank. Three people were reported killed and others injured, and security forces are still searching for the assailants. The site is located between the Israeli West Bank settlements of Karnei Shomron and Kdumim. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Rebel forces in Syria are building a transitional government after toppling the regime of President Bashar Assad in a lightning-quick advance across the country.
The Israel Defense Forces continues its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza, particularly in the north of the strip around several Palestinian hospitals. A latest round of peace talks to end the 15-month-old war is set to resume in Qatar.
Meanwhile, the November ceasefire in Lebanon is holding despite ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, which Israeli officials say are responses to ceasefire violations by the Iranian-backed militant group.
Tensions remain high between Israel and Iran after tit-for-tat long-range strikes in recent months and threats of further military action from both sides. The IDF and the Yemeni Houthis also continue to exchange attacks.
Blinken hopes for Gaza ceasefire in administration’s final weeks
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Monday that the U.S. wants a ceasefire deal in Gaza and all remaining captives released within the next two weeks, before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
“We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks,” Blinken told reporters while in Seoul, South Korea.
Blinken reported “intensified engagement,” including by Hamas, on reaching a deal, though added “we are yet to see agreement on final points.”
“We need Hamas to make the final necessary decisions to complete the agreement and to fundamentally change the circumstance for the hostages, getting them out, for people in Gaza, bringing them relief, and for the region as a whole, creating an opportunity to actually move forward to something better, more secure for everyone involved,” Blinken said.
“If we don’t get it across the finish line in the next two weeks, I’m confident that it will get its completion at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later,” Blinken added.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
3 Israelis killed in West Bank shooting
Three Israelis were killed in a shooting that targeted a bus and a vehicle in the occupied West Bank on Monday morning, security and emergency officials said.
The attack occurred in the village of Al-Funduq, on one of the main east-west roads crossing the Palestinian territory, much of which is under Israeli security control.
Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service confirmed the death of three victims — two women in their 60s and a man in his 40s. MDA said it provided medical treatment to seven injured people, including the bus driver who is in serious condition.
The Israel Defense Forces said it launched a manhunt for the suspected Palestinian shooters.
“Anyone who follows the path of Hamas in Gaza and sponsors the murder and harm of Jews will pay heavy prices, ” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a post on his X account, reacting to the attack.
Sending his condolences to the families of the victims, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attackers “will not get away.”
“We will find the abhorrent murderers and settle accounts with them and with all those who aided them,” his statement said.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah said in an extensive report Sunday that at least 838 Palestinians — including 173 children — have been killed by Israeli fire and over 6,700 have been injured in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller, Diaa Ostaz and Somayeh Malekian
WHO director calls for release of Kamal Adwan hospital director
Tedros Ghebreyesus, the director of the World Health Organization, said in a statement Saturday that WHO has received no updates about Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of North Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital, since he was detained by Israeli forces on Dec. 27th.
“We continue to urge Israel to release him. We repeat: attacks on hospitals and health professionals must end. People in Gaza need access to health care. Ceasefire!” he said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaulé
Israeli strikes kill 150 in Gaza, officials say, as peace talks resume
More than 150 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip over the past three days, according to Palestinian health authorities.
The series of airstrikes on dozens of Hamas targets came amid a renewed push to reach a ceasefire in the 15-month-old war and return Israeli hostages home before President-elect Donald Trump takes office later this month.
Delegations from both Israel and Hamas were dispatched to resume indirect negotiations in Doha on Friday. The talks will be brokered by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
President Joe Biden’s administration, which is helping to broker the talks, urged Hamas to agree to a deal. Hamas said it was committed to reaching an agreement deal, but it remains unclear how close the two sides are.
-ABC News Nasser Atta, Bruno Nota, Diaa Ostaz, Samy Zyara and Morgan Winsor
(SEOUL) — South Korean investigators are seeking an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived imposition of martial law, according to the Yonhap news agency.
A joint investigation team reportedly announced on Monday they sought the warrant on insurrection and abuse of power charges after Yoon ignored three summonses to appear for questioning.
Under South Korea’s constitution, if a sitting president is accused of insurrection, the police have the authority to arrest him while he is still in office.
A court will decide whether to issue an arrest warrant for Yoon, which would mark the first presidential arrest in the country’s history.
Yoon declared martial law in a televised speech on Dec. 3. The president said the measure was necessary due to the actions of the country’s liberal opposition, the Democratic Party, which he accused of controlling parliament, sympathizing with North Korea and paralyzing the government.
The move sparked protests, and hours after the declaration, the National Assembly voted to demand that the president lift the martial law order. A majority of parliament — all 190 members who were present, out of the 300-person body — voted to lift the decree — requiring that it then be lifted, under the South Korean constitution.
Following the National Assembly’s vote, Yoon said he withdrew the troops that had been deployed to carry out martial law and “will lift martial law as soon as we have a quorum in the cabinet.” The State Council then convened to vote to officially lift it.
The country’s Democratic Party called on Yoon to resign following what it called the “fundamentally invalid” declaration of martial law. Without Yoon resigning, the opposition party worked to enact impeachment proceedings against the president.
Yoon has been suspended from his position since Dec. 14, when the National Assembly voted for his impeachment in a 204-85 vote.
Earlier this month, however, Yoon vowed to “fight until the last moment” and said that he had never intended to disrupt the “constitutional order” when he ordered hundreds of troops into the National Assembly on Dec. 3.
The public reaction has been complex and varied, reflecting the deep political, social, and generational divides in South Korea. But overall there is a mass consensus that putting the country under martial law was an inexcusable action, no matter what motivated the president to do so.
“It was an unthinkable, unimaginable situation,” Seo Jungkun, a professor at Kyunghee University in Seoul, previously told ABC News. “President Yoon attempted to suspend the functions of the national assembly. He ordered the removal of lawmakers, therefore he could be charged with treason,” Seo explained, referring to a testimony by Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-geun, who oversaw the special forces dispatched to the National Assembly on the night of the martial law declaration.
ABC News’ Joohee Cho and Hakyung Kate Lee contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — There have been 104 passengers rescued from a train in Pakistan on Tuesday after it was attacked and hundreds were taken hostage by the militant Balochistan Liberation Army, according to a Pakistani military official.
At least 17 people have been injured and 16 terrorists have been killed as a military operation continues, according to the official.
Earlier, a U.S. official told ABC News that at least 450 people were taken hostage on the train and said six Pakistani military personnel were killed.
The separatist militant group claimed it had taken 182 military and security personnel hostage on the train, according to a post on Telegram, but said they had released the majority of the civilians on board. The group claimed a higher number of casualties in the attack, saying they killed 20 Pakistani military personnel and shot down a drone.
The BLA had threatened to kill all the hostages if Pakistan’s military tries to rescue them, the official said.
The BLA blew up part of the track, forcing the train to stop, before they boarded and took control, according to the official.
The attack happened in mountainous area right before a tunnel, making a rescue very difficult, they said.
Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack and said the government would not make any concessions to “beasts who fire on innocent passengers.”
The train was trapped in a tunnel after the tracks were blown up and militants opened fire on it, reportedly injuring the driver, local authorities and police have told media.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
