A group of militants seized a Peshawar-bound train, igniting a 36-hour hostage crisis, but this attack is part of a decades-long insurgency rooted in the Baloch separatist groups' violent struggle for an independent state.

Pakistan army reveals details of Balochistan Liberation Army attack on Jaffar Express, resulting in 26 hostages killed and 33 terrorists eliminated.

Pakistan's military spokesman said on Friday the death toll in a train hijacking in the country's southwestern mountains had risen to 31 and he repeated accusations that neighbouring India and Afghanistan backed the militants who carried it out.

Hostages freed after a day-long ordeal following a BLA militant attack on a Pakistan train recalled crouching on the floor for hours before their release.

The driver of Jaffar Express, which was hijacked by Balochistan Liberation Army militants, has described the terrifying moment when the insurgents attacked the train as survivors praised the military for their rescue.

Insurgents who attacked a passenger train carrying 440 passengers in restive southwestern Pakistan killed 21 hostages before

By bno Chennai bureau The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist militant group, attacked and held hostage the Jaffar Express, a passenger train traveling from Quetta to Peshawar in Pakistan between March 11 and 12.