All About Baloch Liberation Army Rebels Behind Train Hijacking In Pakistan
Separatist militant group the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed that they had taken hostages during an attack on a train carrying hundreds of people, including paramilitary troops, in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday and threatened to kill them. The BLA is the strongest of a number of insurgent groups long operating in the area bordering Afghanistan and Iran, a mineral-rich region that is home to Beijing's investment in Gwadar deep water port and other projects. In what was previously a low-level insurgency, the militants have in recent months stepped up their activities using new tactics to inflict high death and injury tolls and target Pakistan's military. Here are facts about the group, which has also targeted Chinese interests. WHAT ARE THE BLA'S GOALS? The BLA seeks independence for Balochistan, a province located in Pakistan's southwest and bordering Afghanistan to the north and Iran to the west. It is the biggest of several ethnic insurgent groups that h...