The United States officially designated the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and its alias, the Majeed Brigade, as Foreign Terrorist Organisations (FTO) on Monday. The Majeed Brigade was also added as an alias under the BLA’s existing Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) status.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the designation in a press statement, highlighting that since 2019, the BLA, including the Majeed Brigade, has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks.
The BLA has been under US scrutiny for years, first designated as an SDGT in 2019 following its involvement in a series of terrorist incidents. Since then, the group has carried out multiple attacks, including suicide bombings and high-profile assaults executed by the Majeed Brigade.
According to the State Department, the BLA claimed responsibility for suicide attacks in 2024 near Karachi Airport and the Gwadar Port Authority Complex. In March 2025, the group admitted to hijacking the Jaffar Express train traveling from Quetta to Peshawar, resulting in the deaths of 31 civilians and security personnel, and holding over 300 passengers hostage during the attack.
“These violent actions have continued to threaten the security of civilians and disrupt stability in the region,” the statement noted.
The declaration emphasizes the Trump administration’s commitment to combating terrorism, stating that terrorist designations are critical tools to curtail support for terrorist activities.
The FTO designation enables the US government to freeze the group’s assets, criminalize support for its activities, and collaborate internationally to dismantle its operations.
The BLA, recognized as a terrorist organization by both the US and Pakistan, has been engaged in a decades-long insurgency against the Pakistani government, seeking independence for the mineral-rich province of Balochistan.
Separately, the US recently designated The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, as an FTO following a deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 people.
