US declares Pakistan separatists a terrorist group

QUETTA, Pakistan – The United States has declared Pakistan’s separatist Baluchistan Liberation Army organization a terrorist group and says it will seek to deny it resources for planning and carrying out attacks.

The State Department announced the decision Tuesday.

It says the Baluchistan Liberation Army is an armed separatist group that targets security forces and civilians mainly in southwest Pakistan.

It says the group carried out a suicide attack in August 2018 that targeted Chinese engineers in Baluchistan, a November 2018 attack on the Chinese Consulate in Karachi, and a May 2019 attack on a luxury hotel in the port town of Gwadar.

Baluchistan has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency by armed groups demanding more autonomy and a greater share in the region’s natural resources.