KARACHI, Pakistan

A military operation to free the hostages from a train hijacking in southwestern Pakistan has ended successfully after the incident left at least 21 passengers and four troops dead, the army said on Wednesday.

Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif, the head of Pakistan Army's information wing, said that all 33 suspected militants involved in the hijacking were killed in a "successful" military operation that lasted for 24 hours.

Passengers injured in gunfire as they fled on foot from gunmen following the Jaffer Express hostage crisis are treated at the Civil Hospital in Quetta, Pakistan

▪️Militants blew up a railway track and hijacked a train on Tuesday in Pakistan

▪️Some 440 passengers were on board… pic.twitter.com/zXYvPQLRl4

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All the hostages have also been freed, he added.

All 21 passengers and one security force member were killed by militants before the security operation began, while four more troops were killed in the operation involving the army's special services group and the air force, he added.

Militants loyal to the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) blew up a railway track and hijacked the train on Tuesday in the remote Bolan region of the southwestern Balochistan province. Some 440 passengers were on board.

Militants loyal to the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the brazen siege.

The BLA and some other groups have long been involved in attacks on security forces and citizens from other provinces.

They have been fighting for the "liberation" of Balochistan, which they claim was forcibly incorporated into Pakistan following the end of British colonial rule in united India in 1947.