Some hostages crouched on the floor for as long as 27 hours, remaining motionless, while some could only gasp in shock as armed rebels entered the train and began executing passengers.

Jaffar Express travelling from Quetta to Peshawar and carrying 440 passengers was hijacked in which 21 civilians and four soldiers were killed.

Baloch separatists have repeatedly attacked the Jaffar Express in the last few years. It is commonly used by security personnel, mostly from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. The last major attack on the train took place in November when a suicide bomber detonated himself at the Quetta railway station as it prepared to depart.

The clearance operation launched after the Jaffar Express train's hijacking in Balochistan was complete and all 33 "terrorists" were killed at the site of the attack, Dawn reported citing the Pakistan Army's media wing.

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.

Pakistan: Recently, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) hijacked the Jaffar Express train in Pakistan. The operation is over, all the hostage passengers have been rescued, but the matter is still heated.