Pakistani army ends train standoff, says 21 hostages, 4 troops killed

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 on Tuesday blew up the railway track and hurled rockets at the Jaffar Express when it was on its way to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province from Balochistan's capital of Quetta, carrying 440 people.

The military said 21 hostages and four security troops were killed over the course of the standoff.

"Today we freed a large number of people, including women and children. The final operation was carried out with great care," military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said, adding that no civilians were killed in the final stage of the operation.

Before the army announcement, the Baloch Liberation Army, which claimed the attack, said it had killed 50 passengers on Wednesday evening. It had said on Tuesday that it was holding 214 people, mostly security personnel.

It had threatened to start executing hostages unless authorities met its 48-hour deadline for the release of Baloch political prisoners, activists and missing people it says had been abducted by the military.

The BLA is the largest of several ethnic armed groups battling the government in Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

The militants have in recent months stepped up their activities using new tactics to inflict high death and injury tolls and target Pakistan's military.

Baloch militant groups say they have been fighting for a larger share in the regional wealth of mines and minerals denied by the central government.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attack and expressed their heartfelt grief and sorrow over the loss of civilians and security personnel, according to the statements from two leaders.

(With input from Reuters)