Director General Lieutenant Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said 26 hostages were killed by the terrorists before the start of the army operation.

Separatist militant group the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed that they had taken hostages during an attack on a train carrying hundreds of people, including paramilitary troops, in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday and threatened to kill them.

Pakistan’s prime minister traveled to restive southwestern Balochistan province to meet survivors of a train attack and the commandos who rescued over 300 passengers from the insurgents who killed 21

The Pakistani government, facing a widening security crisis in the country’s restive southwest, has given little indication it intends to negotiate with the militants.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Balochistan province on Thursday, as dozens of people rescued from a train hijacked by separatist militants arrived in Quetta after security forces killed 33 attackers to end a day-long standoff.

Mehboob Hussain was riding the train home on Tuesday when the tracks under the front car exploded. In the depths of central Pakistan's Bolan Pass, a pocket of wilderness so remote that there is no internet or mobile network coverage,

Pakistani security forces freed the remaining passengers from a train that was hijacked by an armed militant group. NBC News’ Raf Sanchez reports on the rescue operations.