Balochistan Liberation Army chief killed in suicide bombing
Mastermind of last month’s Chinese consulate attack in Karachi, Aslam Baloch, killed in suicide attack in Afghanistan.
Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) chief and mastermind of last month’s Chinese consulate attack in Karachi, Aslam Baloch, has been killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan.
He was responsible for conducting a suicide attack on a bus carrying Chinese nationals in Dalbandin (August) and the foiled attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi.
A February 2011 article by Selig S. Harrison of the Center for International Policy called for supporting “anti-Islamist forces” along the southern Arabian Sea coast, including “Baluch insurgents fighting for independence from Pakistan”, as a means of weakening the “rising tide of anti-American passion” in Pakistan and heading off any alliance between Islamabad and Beijing – Pakistan having granted China access to a naval base at Gwadar.
Balochistan is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. It is the largest province in terms of land area, forming the southwestern region of the country.
The Balochistan insurgencyis a guerrilla war waged by Baloch nationalists against the governments of Pakistan and Iran in the Balochistan region, which covers Balochistan Province in southwestern Pakistan, Sistan, and Baluchestan Province in southeastern Iran, and the Balochistan region of southern Afghanistan. Being crucial for Pakistan’s economic future, China has invested $46 billion in the region.
