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

Baloch separatist militants blew up a railway track and launched rockets at the Jaffar Express, which was carrying over 400 passengers.

Pakistan’s military accused neighbouring India on Friday of sponsoring insurgents in a restive southwestern province, where an unprecedented attack by armed separatists this week killed 26 passengers aboard a hijacked train.