The fate of hundreds of passengers remained unknown more than 24 hours after separatist militants in Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan province seized a train carrying more than 400 people,

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.

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.