SSG and Afghan Embassy Crisis (1994)

On February twenty third of 1994, three Afghans hijacked a bus filled with teachers and students at gun point, quickly driving  it to the Afghan embassy in Pakistan in the city of Islamabad. They took them as hostages and started demanding money, food, and safe passage back into Afghanistan. Negotiations for the release of hostages took place but ultimately failed and it was clear that the special forces action will have to take place to resolve the crisis.

Hijacking

On one normal day out on a field trip, three Afghan armed men hijacked a school bus in the city of Peshawar. The motivations centered around demanding a large sum of money and food from the Pakistani government. The three gunmen moved with the hostages forcing the driver to go towards the Afghan embassy in Islamabad using the school bus. Immediately after reaching the destination the three men took refuge within the Afghan embassy along with their hostages which numbered 15 students and one teacher. They had before hand rereleased 55 students and six female teachers after detaining them for several hours during earlier negotiations.

Demands

This incident reportedly took place in response to Pakistan’s decision to close down its Afghan border during the same time period, as a result of security threat due to renewed fighting in Afghanistan between different factions in Kabul. This was estimated to have prompted another big migration of Afghan refugees into Pakistan (Pakistan was already hosting over 3.5 million Afghan refugees). The hijackers demanded a large sum of money be handed over to them and a safe unobstructed passage via helicopter to Afghanistan. They also demanded a large amount of food aid be sent to Afghanistan.

Negotiations

The three hijackers initially demanded an amount of $500,000, but later on raised the ransom to around $5 million, threatening to shoot a hostage every half an hour if not complied. They additionally demanded “truckloads of food” to be sent to Afghanistan, where the heavy infighting had resulted in food shortages.

Due to these circumstances as part of negotiations the Pakistani interior minister Nasirullah Babar initially offered to meet their demands for 2000 truckloads of food/Medicine as aid to war-shattered  Afghanistan and safe ride back to Afghanistan but refused to comply with ransom demand after the gunmen had raised it to $5 million and threatened to execute the hostages. Nasirullah Babar later explained that they wanted the money for themselves , compromising negotiations by suddenly hiking it hence we will not give it for their personal gain. During the ongoing negotiations, Pakistani policemen  reportedly disguised as waiters entered the embassy to deliver the daily food demanded by hijackers. Quietly observing the situation and analyzing weaknesses with in the hijackers while locating possible entry points for a possible rescue operation.

Rescue Operation planned

As negotiations were not reaching a conclusion and hijackers started becoming more and more violent, all options were placed on the table by state, including an shock forced entry to rescue the hostages and eliminate the hijackers (Weather dead or alive). In the end a rescue operation was agreed upon and extensive meetings took place where planning was carried out taking all variables into consideration such as the the embassy lay out, weapons used by the hijackers, hostage safety and all possible entry points for quick action. 

On a Monday night , thirty Pakistani commandos of the SSG special force started to casually walk around the embassy area in civilian attire, carefully evaluating the scene and got into pre designated positions. Soon at a pre decided time the commando assault began as they stormed the Afghan Embassy rescuing all hostages alive and incapacitated all three hijackers in an operation that lasted for just twenty seconds.

The Operation

Commandos of the Special Services Group initiated the forced entry with stun grenades immediately after which storming the embassy choke points. The stun grenade had reportedly blinded two of the armed hijackers and distracted away the attention of third from the hostages. As the commandoes rushed in breaking windows and from other entry choke points they got into contact with the two stunned hijackers immediately taking them out by lethal means and giving a room clear got ready to deal with the third hijacker. By that time, the third man was on alert and got ready to resist he started to burst fire rounds and round of ammunition but soon he was also taken out by a 9mm shot in the head. Finally, after a 36 hours long crisis all hostages were rescued; all hijackers were eliminated, all this in just 20 seconds.