Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited Balochistan province on Thursday, as dozens of people rescued from a train hijacked by separatist militants arrived in Quetta after security forces killed 33 attackers to end a day-long standoff.

Nearly 200 have been freed but the status of other passengers remains unclear as security forces continue to battle separatist militants.

Pakistani forces were in a tense standoff Wednesday with hundreds of militants holding about 250 people hostage on a train they had hijacked in the remote southwest the day before, officials said. The security forces held off from full-out battles as militants wearing vests loaded with explosives had barricaded themselves