Pakistan’s military accused neighbouring India on Friday of sponsoring insurgents in a restive southwestern province, where an unprecedented attack by armed separatists this week killed 26 passengers aboard a hijacked train.

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s neglected southwestern province of Balochistan has been the scene of a yearslong insurgency, with a dramatic uptick in attacks in recent years underscoring the struggles the government in Islamabad faces in dealing with myriad security threats.

Insurgents who attacked a passenger train carrying 440 passengers in restive southwestern Pakistan killed 21 hostages before

Pakistan's military spokesman said on Friday the death toll in a train hijacking in the country's southwestern mountains had risen to 31 and he repeated accusations that neighbouring India and Afghanistan backed the militants who carried it out.

Pakistan authorities announced the elimination of 33 militants who attacked a passenger train and the rescue of all remaining hostages, reports AP News. Armed fighters from the separatist group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) attacked the Jafer Express train traveling from Quetta to Peshawar.