Baloch Liberation Army militants, who attacked a passenger train carrying 440 passengers in restive southwestern Pakistan, killed 21 hostages before security forces killed all 33 of the assailants, and all other passengers were rescued, officials said Wednesday.

Pakistan information minister Attaullah Tarar said the separatist Baloch Liberation Army or BLA group was behind the attack, and the military operation “has successfully reached its logical conclusion”.

He said no passengers died because of the operation, and praised the military for “averting a potential catastrophe”. The province’s chief minister, Sarfraz Bugti, told a provincial assembly that troops killed all insurgents involved.

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Passengers who escaped or were released by the militants described panic as gunmen seized control of the train, sorting through identity cards, shooting soldiers but freeing some families, news agency AFP reported.

“They asked us to come out of the train one by one. They separated women and asked them to leave. They also spared elders,” said Muhammad Naveed, who managed to escape, told AFP.

“They asked us to come outside, saying we will not be harmed. When around 185 people came outside, they chose people and shot them down.”

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Babar Masih, a 38-year-old Christian labourer, told AFP on Wednesday he and his family walked for hours through rugged mountains to reach a train that could take them to a makeshift hospital on a railway platform.

“Our women pleaded with them, and they spared us,” he said.

“They told us to get out and not look back. As we ran, I noticed many others running alongside us.”

Noman Ahmed, a steelworker originally from Gujranwala district in Punjab Province, was also aboard the train, hoping to return home for Eid with his family, The New York Times reported.

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“When we heard the blast, we dropped to the floor and locked the carriage door, hoping to escape the gunfire,” NYT quoted Ahmed as saying.

Moments later, a militant came and separated women and the elderly from the rest of the passengers, who were forced to move toward a nearby hillside. Some injured passengers remained inside the train, he said.

“They ordered them to come out,” Ahmed said, adding, “When they didn’t, the gunmen went in and shot them all.”

What happened?

The train had been travelling from Quetta to the northern city of Peshawar. Officials say the Jaffer Express train was partially inside a tunnel when the militants blew up the tracks, forcing the engine and nine coaches to stop.

Oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest and least populated province. It’s a hub for the country’s ethnic Baloch minority, whose members say they face discrimination and exploitation by the central government.

Balochistan borders Iran and Afghanistan and has long been the scene of insurgency. Separatists demand greater autonomy from the government in Islamabad and a larger share of the region’s natural resources.

What did the hijackers want?

Members of the military frequently use trains to travel from Quetta to other parts of the country. In November, the BLA carried out a suicide bombing at a train station in Quetta, killing 26 people.

The BLA had warned that hostages’ lives would be at risk if the government did not negotiate. Analysts said the attack and its focus on civilians could backfire.

“After failing to damage the Pakistan Army within Balochistan, BLA has shifted its targets from military to unarmed civilians. This may give them instant public and media attention, but it will weaken their support base within the civilian population, which is their ultimate objective,” said Syed Muhammad Ali, an Islamabad-based independent security analyst.

Rescued passengers, including women and children, were being sent to their hometowns. Some of the injured were taken to Quetta, about 62 miles away.

(With inputs from NYT, AFP and Reuters)