Pakistan’s military have been engaged in a deadly standoff for more than 24 hours with armed militants who hijacked a train and took hostages, in a dramatic escalation of an insurgency that has plagued the region for decades.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -Attackers wearing suicide bombs were sitting next to passengers taken hostage after militants took over a train in southwest Pakistan, sources said on Wednesday, complicating rescue efforts a day after the country's first such hijacking.

Pakistani security forces are carrying out a rescue operation to free dozens of passengers taken hostage by separatist militants who hijacked their train in the southwest of the country on Tuesday.