Asia News Wrap: Pakistan forces raid train to free hostages, and more

Here are a few stories from around Asia you may have missed this week.

Pakistan train hostage crisis ends

Pakistani security forces stormed a train on Wednesday that had been hijacked by separatist militants, killing all 33 attackers and ending a day-long standoff involving hundreds of hostages, the military said.

Separatist Baloch militants blew up a railway track and launched rockets at the Jaffar Express on Tuesday as it was traveling from Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, carrying 440 passengers.

China launches 18 satellites from Hainan commercial launch site

A group of 18 low Earth orbit satellites was launched aboard the Long March-8 Y6 carrier rocket from the Hainan commercial spacecraft launch site in south China's Hainan Province on Wednesday. The satellites, the fifth group of its kind, have entered the preset orbit successfully, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). They will constitute China's commercial internet constellation Spacesail. This mission marks the inaugural launch from the site's Number 1 launch pad, which, following the inaugural launch from the Number 2 pad on November 30, 2024, signifies the dual-pad readiness of China's first commercial spaceport.

South Korea offers to revoke medical school expansion to end strike

South Korea's education ministry has offered to freeze the number of new medical students at about 3,000 a year, it said on Friday, trying to end a 13-month dispute involving a walkout by trainee doctors and the boycott of classes. Thousands of doctors have walked off the job since February 2024 to protest against a government plan to add more students in medical schools, as both sides disputed the remedies needed to fix the healthcare system in a rapidly aging nation.

Myanmar will hold elections in under a year: Military chief

Myanmar's military government will hold a general election in December 2025 or January 2026, state media said on Saturday, citing Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who provided the first specific time frame for the long-promised polls in the conflict-ridden nation.

"We plan to hold a free and fair election soon," Min Aung Hlaing said during a visit to Belarus, where he announced the time frame, the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.

"Fifty-three political parties have already submitted their lists to participate in the election," he said.

Malaysian mothers win case over citizenship for overseas-born children

Malaysian mothers won a victory on Monday after a court granted citizenship rights to their overseas-born children up to the age of 18 but excluded adults, leaving many still in legal limbo.

The victory came after a four-year court battle, brought by a family-rights group and several mothers against the government to allow automatic Malaysian citizenship for their foreign-born children. Without that recognition, children could not attend state-funded schools, faced hurdles finding jobs, and may even have ended up stateless, as Malaysia does not recognise dual citizenship.

(Cover: Passengers rescued by security forces from a passenger train attacked by insurgents arrive at the railway station in Quetta, Pakistan, on March 12, 2025. /CFP)