A number of people were killed when armed men hijacked two buses in the south-western Baluchistan province of Pakistan.
Baluchistan home minister Sarfaraz Bugti said the gunmen let around 50 passengers go after hijacking the buses and took at least 25 into the mountains.
Security forces surrounded and battled the gunmen, and were able to recover six passengers, one of whom was injured.
Baluchistan information minister Abdur Rahim Ziaratwal said the assailants still hold some passengers, without giving an exact number, and the operation to recover them is continuing.
Baluchistan is the scene of a low intensity insurgency by Baluch nationalists, separatists and other groups demanding more autonomy and a greater share of the province’s gas and mineral resources.