The United States has designated the so-called Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and its alias, The Majeed Brigade, as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation, accusing them of carrying out multiple deadly attacks in recent years.
Recently, the BLA took responsibility for hijacking a Pakistani Jaffar Express train travelling from Quetta to Peshawar in March, killing 31 civilians and security personnel and holding over 300 train passengers hostage, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement on Monday.
BLA was designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) organisation in 2019 following several deadly terrorist attacks in Pakistan.
"Today’s action taken by the Department of State demonstrates the Trump Administration’s commitment to countering terrorism. Terrorist designations play a critical role in our fight against this scourge and are an effective way to curtail support for terrorist activities," said the State Department.
Terrorist designations by the State Department also mean that the BLA and anyone affiliated with it are subject to sanctions that deny them access to the US financial system.
In 2024, BLA claimed it had committed attacks near the airport in Karachi and the Gwadar Port Authority Complex.
BLA operates mostly in Pakistan’s Balochistan province but has carried out deadly attacks in Pakistan’s other provinces as well.
Balochistan is Pakistan's largest province by area, which borders Afghanistan and Iran. But it is thinly populated, with just 15 million from a national population of 240 million.
The province is home to the Gwadar Port, built by China as part of a $65 billion Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) investment in Pakistan designed to expand Beijing's global reach and enhance economic cooperation with Islamabad.
Terrorist groups have also targeted and killed Chinese engineers in the past, besides killing several civilians and officials.
Islamabad accuses arch-rival India of funding and backing the BLA in a bid to stoke instability, as Pakistan seeks international investments in the region, a charge New Delhi denies.
Last week, Pakistan suspended cell phone data services for three weeks in the southwestern province of Balochistan in a bid to block communications among terrorists behind a surge in recent attacks
