Pakistani security forces declared an end to ethnic separatists’ seizure of a train carrying more than 400 people.

Baloch separatists have repeatedly attacked the Jaffar Express in the last few years. It is commonly used by security personnel, mostly from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. The last major attack on the train took place in November when a suicide bomber detonated himself at the Quetta railway station as it prepared to depart.

A military operation against militants who hijacked a train carrying hundreds of passengers in southwest Pakistan has ended, a spokesman for the army said late on Wednesday. Some 33 militants and 21 hostages were killed during the operation, the spokesman said in a television broadcast.