Pakistani officials say security forces have exchanged gunfire with hundreds of separatist militants, seeking to free about 250 hostages aboard a train in the country’s rugged southwest.

At least 16 terrorists were killed and 104 passengers rescued by the security forces after Baloch militants hijacked a passenger train in a tunnel in Pakistan's Balochistan province on March 11, reports said.

The Jaffar Express, with roughly 450 people on board, was traveling north from Quetta, Balochistan, to Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, when it came under a bomb and gun attack Tuesday