US designates Baloch militants in Pak as terrorists

The UnitedStates on Tuesday designated the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which isfighting Pakistani rule in Balochistan province, as a terrorist organisation.

The grouphas carried out a number of terror attacks in Balochistan. Pakistan has alreadyclassified the outfit as a terrorist organisation and have been urging the USto do the same.

   

“TheBLA is an armed separatist group that targets security forces and civilians,mainly in ethnic Baloch areas of Pakistan,” the State Department said inits designation.

Thedepartment made it a crime for anyone in the US to assist the BLA militants andfreezing any US assets they may have.

The BLA hascarried out several terrorist attacks last year, including a suicide attack inAugust that targeted Chinese engineers in Balochistan and an attack on theChinese consulate in Karachi in November that claimed four lives.

In May thisyear, five people, including a soldier, were killed after BLA gunmen stormed afive-star hotel in the port city of Gwadar.

Welcomingthe US’ move, Pakistan said it hope that the action will ensure that the BLA’sspace to operate is minimised.

It isimportant that the perpetrators, organisers, financers and external sponsorsincluding those glorifying these acts of terror against Pakistan are heldaccountable and brought to justice,” the Pakistan Foreign Office said in astatement in Islamabad.

Meanwhile,the US also sanctioned Hezbollah operative Husain Ali Hazzima, chief of theBeirut-based group’s intelligence unit.

It alsoupdated its sanctions list to reflect a name change of the Iranian Muslim groupJundallah to Jaysh al-Adl.

Jundallah,which was designated as a foreign terrorist organisation in 2010, began usingthe new name Jaysh al-Adl and associated aliases in 2012, the state departmentstatement said.

Since itsinception, the group has engaged in numerous attacks that have killed scores ofIranian civilians and government officials, including a February 2019 suicidebombing and an October 2018 kidnapping of Iranian security personnel, it said.

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