Pakistan Army has claimed to have freed the passengers of hijacked Jaffar Express train from the clutches of Baloch Liberation Army (BLA). It said that the military standoff with the rebels has ended. All the passengers have been sent to Quetta city.

The army has claimed to have killed 33 rebels. The encounter between the Pakistani army and the rebels continued for almost a day. The Pakistani army said that 21 hostages and four security personnel lost their lives in the attack by the rebels.

The rebels had taken the passengers hostage after attacking the Jaffar Express train going from Balochistan's capital Quetta to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's capital Peshawar. BLA had taken responsibility for this. The rebels had hijacked the train after a rocket attack. More than 400 people were on board the train.

No one was killed in the final phase: Pakistan Army

The Pakistan Army said that 21 hostages and four soldiers were killed during the standoff. Today we have freed a large number of people including women and children. The final operation was carried out with utmost caution. Military spokesman Ahmed Sharif Chaudhary said that no civilian was killed in the last phase of the operation.

BLA had given an ultimatum of 48 hours

Earlier, the Pakistan Army had said that it had killed 50 passengers on Wednesday evening. On Tuesday, the group claimed to have taken 214 people hostage. The group had given an ultimatum to the Pakistan Army that it would start killing hostages if the authorities did not release Baloch political prisoners, activists and missing people within 48 hours.

How did the train driver save his life?

Train driver Amjad said that the rebels fired on the train. After this I immediately lay down on the floor of the train. The rebels broke the window and entered the train. They thought I was dead. After this they left. I remained hidden there for about 27 hours until the security forces arrived.