Hostages freed after a day-long ordeal following an attack by militants on a train in Pakistan's Balochistan province described crouching on the floor for hours before their release, as the bodies of 25 people killed arrived in Quetta.

Director General Lieutenant Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said 26 hostages were killed by the terrorists before the start of the army operation.

Nearly 350 hostages have been rescued at the end of a deadly standoff between Pakistan’s military and armed militants who hijacked a train in the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan, a security source told CNN Wednesday.