By Saleem Ahmed and Asif Shahzad QUETTA (Reuters) -Suicide bombers were seated next to some of the scores of passengers taken hostage after militants hijacked a train in southwest Pakistan, complicating rescue efforts,

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.

Pakistan forces launched a "full-scale" operation on Wednesday to rescue train passengers taken hostage by militants in the mountainous southwest, with security sources saying 155 had been freed in the past 24 hours.