Conflict Zones
Who are the BLA – the group behind Pakistan’s deadly train hijack? | Conflict News
Islamabad, Pakistan – Security forces in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan say they have concluded a military operation against armed separatists who hijacked the Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express on Tuesday, rescuing 346 passengers.
Officials said the military had killed all 33 of the attackers from the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
The train, carrying nearly 400 passengers, had left Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, in the morning when it was intercepted by BLA fighters near a series of tunnels, about 160km (100 miles) away.
General Ahmed Sharif , director general of the Inter Services Public Relations, the military’s media wing confirmed that 27 civilians — including the train driver — and one paramilitary soldier involved in the operation had also been killed.
State Interior Minister Tallal Chaudhry told Al Jazeera that the fighters had used several hostages as “human shields”.
In recent years, the BLA has significantly expanded the scale and sophistication of its operations – conducting more than 150 attacks last year alone – culminating in this recent train hijacking.
But what is the BLA, when was it created, who are its leaders, what are the group’s demands, and how has it managed to wage a battle with the state for several years?
Why is there a secessionist movement in Balochistan?
Balochistan – Pakistan’s largest but least populous province – has a long history of marginalisation.
The province was annexed by Pakistan in 1948, six months after its partition from India in August 1947, and has witnessed several separatist movements ever since.
Home to about 15 million of Pakistan’s estimated 240 million people, according to the 2023 census, Balochistan remains the country’s poorest region despite being rich in natural resources such as coal, gold, copper, and gas. These resources generate substantial revenue for the federal government.
The province is also home to one of Pakistan’s major deep-sea ports at Gwadar, a crucial trade corridor for the $62bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which aims to link southwestern China to the Arabian Sea through Pakistan.
However, Baloch nationalists allege that the Pakistani state has neglected their people while exploiting the province’s resources, triggering separatist movements and armed rebellions.
When was the BLA created, and what led to its formation?
Balochistan has witnessed at least five separatist uprisings since Pakistan’s formation in 1947.
The latest wave began in the early 2000s, initially focused on securing a larger share of the province’s resources for its people but soon escalating into calls for complete independence.
With growing resentment towards the state, the BLA emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Analysts studying Baloch resistance movements say it was led by Balach Marri, son of veteran Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri.
The rebellion intensified in 2006 after the government, under military ruler Pervez Musharraf, killed prominent Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Balach Marri was also killed a year later, and the government subsequently banned the BLA. Balach Marri’s father, Nawab Khair Baksh Marri, passed away in December 2014.
Over the years, the BLA has distinguished itself as a group committed to Balochistan’s complete independence from Pakistan.
Unlike moderate Baloch nationalist groups advocating provincial autonomy, the BLA has never pursued a middle ground.
Malik Siraj Akbar, a researcher specialising in the Baloch separatist movement, says that while the BLA’s core demand for an independent Balochistan remains unchanged, its leadership, operational geography, and strategies have evolved over time.
“Today, the BLA operates with little to no influence from the Marri tribe. Instead, its leadership has shifted to educated Baloch figures, many of whom were once part of the non-violent Baloch Students Organization (BSO),” he told Al Jazeera.
Who are the major leaders of the BLA?
The BLA took up arms against the Pakistani state due to what it considered the federal government’s “continuous misadventures”, which, it claimed, undermined genuine political and socioeconomic progress in the province.
Akbar notes that the BLA was initially a very secretive organisation, but a significant shift occurred when leadership transitioned from Marri tribesmen to middle-class Baloch leaders.
“The new leadership displayed a greater tendency to showcase their power and capabilities in the media. Among them, the most prominent figures include Aslam Baloch, who was later killed in 2018, and, more recently, Bashir Zaib, former student leader of the BSO,” Akbar added.
Fahad Nabeel, who leads the Islamabad-based research consultancy Geopolitical Insights, says Bashir Zaib Baloch is the current leader of the BLA and was likely behind the Jaffar Express hijacking.
Bashir Zaib, in his mid-40s, belongs to the Nushki district of Balochistan, situated 150km (93 miles) south of Quetta. He earned a diploma from a polytechnical college in Quetta.
“After Aslam Baloch’s death in a bomb attack in Kandahar, Afghanistan, the group’s leadership passed to Bashir Zaib Baloch,” Nabeel told Al Jazeera.
In 2010, the group launched its suicide squad – the Majeed Brigade, which remained dormant for a few years then came into prominence in 2018 when Aslam Baloch sent his own son to target Chinese engineers working in the Balochistan city of Dalbandin. The attack injured five people, including the three Chinese nationals, but there were no fatalities, apart from Aslam’s son.
That sparked a broader trend of the BLA attacking Chinese citizens and installations in recent years.
The group attacked the Chinese consulate in Karachi in November 2018, a month before Aslam Baloch’s death. Four people were killed, including two policemen, while the Chinese staff remained safe. Security forces were able to quell the attack within an hour, killing all three assailants.
However, Akbar notes that the BLA’s Majeed Brigade truly gained global attention when one of its female suicide bombers, Shari Baloch, targeted Chinese nationals at Karachi University in 2022.
At least four people were killed, including three Chinese nationals, after Shari, a 30-year-old woman, blew up a minivan outside the university’s Confucius Institute, a Chinese language and cultural centre.
“While Bashir Zaib introduced female militants, his deputy, Hammal Rehan, oversees Majeed Brigade’s operations,” Nabeel said.
Rehan is also in his mid-40s and is believed to be well-educated, with command over several languages, including English, Urdu and Persian.
According to Nabeel, a former Pakistani military official turned renegade, Rehman Gul Baloch, has significantly enhanced the group’s capabilities.
The former military man is in his early 40s, and is also from Nushki. A graduate of the University of Peshawar, he joined the Pakistan Army in 2002, but within eight years, decided to quit and join the BLA.
Rehman Gul Baloch, Nabeel said, has helped the group improve its “combat skills, enabling it to move from hit-and-run attacks to large-scale operations”.
How does the BLA recruit fighters?
Observers say the BLA’s greatest strength is its ability to enlist young, well-schooled soldiers.
“Recruiting young, educated fighters is no longer a challenge, as the group enjoys significant popularity among Baloch youth, despite the controversial nature of its operations,” Akbar says.
He adds that despite the group’s responsibility for civilian deaths, including Baloch citizens, and its use of female suicide bombers, such tactics have drawn only limited criticism.
“Instead, its appeal has grown among young Baloch, many of whom believe armed struggle is the only viable path for their people’s survival,” he added.
Imtiaz Baloch, a researcher at The Khorasan Diary (TKD), a platform tracking regional security, added that the BLA was able to gain sympathy among the people in part due to the state’s “incompetence”.
“High-handed state policies, bad governance, lack of accountability, and cases of enforced disappearances have become catalysts for militants to recruit and influence more sympathizers, including people with highly educated backgrounds such as professional IT experts, data analysts, and other professionals, thereby broadening their reach and social media influence,” he told Al Jazeera.
How does the BLA fund its operations?
While the BLA’s funding sources remain unclear, analysts suggest multiple revenue streams, including illicit activities such as extortion, smuggling and drug trafficking.
The Pakistan government claims India funds the BLA, but Akbar, who says that most of the BLA leadership is in Pakistan after spending years in Afghanistan, says those assertions are hard to accept at face value.
“Given Pakistan’s tendency to blame India for almost every issue, such claims are difficult to accept without solid evidence,” he said. “If the government provides concrete proof of Indian support, only then will its accusations hold weight. What is clear, however, is that the BLA has a well-funded backer, and its fighters receive highly professional training tailored specifically for insurgency.”
Islamabad-based Imtiaz Baloch from The Khorasan Diary, however, said income from massive coal mines in Balochistan province is a main economic source for the group.
“The recent operations by the separatist Baloch armed groups have been highly effective, as they have utilised many American weapons. Following their withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, it was easy to procure [these] from the porous border it shares with Afghanistan,” he added.
Nabeel, on the other hand, said that he believes most of the BLA leadership is operating out of Iran and Afghanistan. He argued that the group generates funds from multiple illicit activities ranging from drug trafficking to kidnapping people for ransom.
“Certain individuals from the Baloch diaspora also provide financial support,” he said. “Their training takes place in Iran, Afghanistan, and certain parts of Balochistan, whereas weapons are procured from black markets operating in Iran and Afghanistan, along with leftover American weapons.”
How does the BLA build its narrative?
Akbar said that the failure of governance and “dissatisfaction” with the provincial government help the BLA increase its influence among a disenchanted public.
“Many view it [the provincial government] as more loyal to Islamabad than to the people of Balochistan, particularly because it refuses to take a stand on critical issues like enforced disappearances,” he said.
Muhammad Shoaib, an academic and a security analyst at the Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad, said that the group has managed to spread its message using social media.
“BLA has learned the art of staying in news and keeping the state apparatus engaged on multiple fronts. The quantity of attacks and fronts tell us that BLA’s recruitment is increasing and now it can dedicate more resources and personnel for operations,” he told Al Jazeera.
Nabeel said that the BLA has honed its “propaganda efforts” in recent years, and noted that the group’s media outlet “provides timely updates on militant activities and publishes literature and combat videos to attract potential recruits”.
Conflict Zones
India general admits jet losses in clash with Pakistan: Here’s what he said | India-Pakistan Tensions News
General Anil Chauhan, India’s chief of defence staff, has admitted that an unspecified number of fighter jets were shot down during its conflict with Pakistan last month.
The acknowledgement of aerial losses by the country’s highest ranking general comes weeks after the two South Asian neighbours were engaged in their heaviest fighting in decades, which involved fighter jets and cruise missiles.
Indian officials had previously refused to confirm or deny Pakistani claims of downing Indian jets. The conflict was triggered after gunmen killed 26 tourists in India-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam town on April 22.
India’s first official admission of a loss of fighter jets came during Chauhan’s interviews on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore.
What was the conflict between India and Pakistan?
India carried out strikes on what it called “terror infrastructure” in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir on May 7 in retaliation for the Pahalgam attack. India blamed armed groups backed by Pakistan for the April 22 attack.
An armed group called The Resistance Front (TRF) claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam killings. India accused the TRF of being an offshoot of the Pakistan-based armed group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Pakistan denied involvement, condemning the Pahalgam attack and calling for a neutral investigation.
India claimed to have targeted at least six cities in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir on the first day of the conflict. Pakistan initially asserted that it had downed six Indian fighter jets in retaliation. But a senior Pakistan official told Al Jazeera five Indian aircraft were lost in the aerial battle.
India did not confirm or deny the Pakistani claims. “Losses are a part of combat,” Air Marshal AK Bharti, India’s director general of air operations, said at a news conference on May 11.
The Indian embassy in China called reports of the downing of jets “disinformation”.
After that, tit-for-tat cross-border attacks across the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border between India- and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, rattled the region, renewing fears of a nuclear war.
On May 10, United States President Donald Trump announced that the two countries had reached a ceasefire, potentially averting a “nuclear disaster”. India and Pakistan have given competing claims on casualties in the fighting, but more than 70 people were killed on both sides.
Both India and Pakistan claim Kashmir in full but administer only parts of the Muslim-majority Himalayan territory.
Here is what Chauhan said in recent interviews with the Reuters news agency and Bloomberg TV:
On the downing of Indian fighter jets
Chauhan admitted that India suffered air losses on the first day of fighting without giving details.
In an interview with Reuters, he said: “What was important is why did these losses occur and what we’ll do after that.”
The Indian general said that after the losses, the Indian army “rectified tactics” and then went back on May 7, 8 and 10 “in large numbers to hit airbases deep inside Pakistan, penetrated all their air defences with impunity, carried out precision strikes”. He added that the Indian air force “flew all types of aircraft with all types of ordnances” on May 10.
Islamabad acknowledged that its airbases suffered some minimal losses but denied that it lost any planes.
When a Bloomberg reporter asked Chauhan about Pakistan’s claims that six Indian jets were downed, Chauhan responded that this information was incorrect.
He went on to say: “What is important is … not the jets being downed but why they were downed.” Some media outlets inferred that his statement appeared to imply that a number of jets were lost in the aerial battle.
The general did not provide details about the number of jets downed or specifics about what these rectified tactics were.
The Pakistani military said India did not fly its fighter jets in the conflict again after suffering the air losses.
On the risks of nuclear war
Media reports suggested that some attacks were near Pakistan’s nuclear sites but the nuclear infrastructure itself was not a target.
“Most of the strikes were delivered with pinpoint accuracy, some even to a metre [3.3ft] to whatever was our selected mean point of impact,” Chauhan said in the interview with Reuters.
Chauhan had previously provided assurances that India was not considering using nuclear weapons during the conflict. The chairman of Pakistan’s joint chiefs of staff, General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, has done the same for his country.
“I think there’s a lot of space before that nuclear threshold is crossed, a lot of signalling before that. I think nothing like that happened. There’s a lot of space for conventional operations which has been created, and this will be the new norm,” Chauhan said.
The Indian general added that on both sides, the most “rational people are in uniform” during conflict because they understand the consequences of “this kind of conflict”.
“I found both sides displaying a lot of rationality in their thoughts as well as actions. So why should we assume that in the nuclear domain there will be irrationality on someone else’s part?”
On Chinese role
The Indian chief of defence staff said that while Pakistan enjoys a close alliance with China, there was no sign that Beijing helped Islamabad during the conflict.
China sits on India’s northern and eastern borders and controls a barely inhabited northeastern zone in Kashmir called Aksai Chin.
“We didn’t find any unusual activity in the operational or tactical depth of our northern borders, and things were generally all right,” Chauhan said.
When Chauhan was asked whether China provided Pakistan with intelligence information such as satellite imagery, the Indian general responded by saying that such information is commercially available and Pakistan could have obtained it from China or other sources.
However, Chauhan said “almost 80 percent of the equipment” in Pakistan has been procured from China in the past few years.
From 2020 to 2025, China supplied 81 percent of Pakistan’s arms imports, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
Chinese jets got a boost after media reports said Pakistan used Chinese-manufactured J-10C fighter jets in the air battle. The Chinese government did not officially confirm that the J-10C jets were used to down Indian jets, but China Central Television, a state broadcaster, posted on social media on May 17 that the jets achieved actual combat results for the first time.
What’s next
Chauhan said that while hostilities have ceased, India would “respond precisely and decisively should there be any further terror attacks emanating from Pakistan”. He added that this will be a new normal for India.
“So that has its own dynamics as far [as] the armed forces are concerned. It will require us to be prepared 24/7.”
The president of the main opposition Indian National Congress party said Chauhan’s admission warrants a review of India’s defence preparedness.
“There are some very important questions which need to be asked. These can only be asked if a Special Session of the Parliament is immediately convened,” Mallikarjun Kharge wrote in an X post on Saturday.
Referring to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he added: “The Modi Govt has misled the nation. The fog of war is now clearing.”
“We salute [the Indian military’s] resolute courage and bravery,” Kharge said. “However, a comprehensive strategic review is the need of the hour.”
The Congress party has called the Pahalgam attack a “security and intelligence failure” and sought accountability, given that India-administered Kashmir is directly governed from New Delhi.
Conflict Zones
Ballet helps fight war fatigue in Ukraine’s front-line Kharkiv city | Russia-Ukraine war
In the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, escaping the war with Russia is nearly impossible.
On certain days, when the wind shifts, residents of this historic city can hear the distant rumble of artillery fire from the front line, some 30km (18.5 miles) away.
Most nights, Russian kamikaze drones packed with explosives buzz overhead as parents put their children to bed.
Three years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the unrelenting war exerts a heavy psychological burden on many in Kharkiv. Yet, there is a place in the city where, for a few fleeting hours, the war seems to vanish.
Beneath the Kharkiv National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, in a dim, brick-walled basement, a dance company has established a refuge from drones and bombs – a space where audiences can lose themselves in performances of classic ballets.
In April, this underground venue hosted performances of Chopiniana, an early 20th-century ballet set to the music of Frederic Chopin. Despite the improvised setting, the ballet was staged with full classical grandeur, complete with corps de ballet and orchestra.
It marked a significant milestone for Kharkiv’s cultural life: the first complete classical ballet performance in the city since February 2022, when Russian troops launched their invasion of Ukraine.
“In spite of everything – the fact that bombs are flying, drones, and everything else – we can give a gift of something wonderful to people,” said Antonina Radiievska, artistic director of Opera East, the ballet company behind the production.
“They can come and, even if it’s just for an hour or two, completely immerse themselves in a different world.”
Despite Ukraine’s rich tradition in classical ballet, the art form now seems far removed from the everyday existence of Ukrainians living through war. Daily routines revolve around monitoring apps for drone alerts, sleeping on metro station floors to escape air raids, or seeking news of loved ones on the front line. Pirouettes, pas de deux and chiffon tutus feel worlds away.
Nevertheless, the journey of Kharkiv’s ballet through wartime reflects the ways in which Ukrainian society has adapted and evolved.
On February 23, 2022, the National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre staged a performance of the ballet Giselle. The next day, Russia launched its full-scale invasion. As Moscow’s forces advanced towards Kharkiv and threatened to seize the city, the theatre closed its doors and much of the ballet troupe departed.
Some regrouped in Slovakia and Lithuania, mounting ballet productions abroad with assistance from European sponsors.
By 2023, although the conflict ground on, the situation in Kharkiv, in Ukraine’s northeast, had stabilised after Russian ground troops withdrew. A new realisation took hold – this was a long-term reality. Locals began referring to the city, and themselves, with the Ukrainian word “nezlamniy”, meaning invincible.
That year, work began on transforming the theatre’s basement into a performance venue. By October 2023, it was being used for rehearsals. The following spring, authorities permitted the theatre to admit audiences, and small-scale ballet performances, including children’s concerts, resumed.
The revival of Chopiniana marked the next chapter in Kharkiv’s wartime cultural journey.
Staging a classical opera again signals that Ukraine endures, says Igor Tuluzov, director-general of Opera East. “We are demonstrating to the world that we really are a self-sufficient state, independent, in all its aspects, including cultural independence,” he said.
The auditorium now seats 400 people on stackable chairs, compared with the 1,750 seats in the main theatre above, where the plush mustard seats remain empty.
The stage is a quarter the size of the main one. Grey-painted bricks, concrete floors, and exposed pipes and wiring form a stark contrast to the varnished hardwood and marble of the theatre above. The basement’s acoustics, performers say, fall short of the cavernous main auditorium.
For artistic director Radiievska, however, the most important thing is that, after a long pause, she and her troupe can once again perform for a live audience.
“It means, you know, life,” she said. “An artist cannot exist without the stage, without creativity, without dance or song. It’s like a rebirth.”
Khartoum, May 30, 2025 — Rapid Support Forces (RSF) deputy leader Abdel Rahim Daglo announced on Friday that RSF fighters would press their eastward advance toward Khartoum, claiming “great victories” in several strategic towns across Kordofan. Addressing troops at an undisclosed location, Daglo said that all armed groups within the Tasis coalition had joined his paramilitary ranks and were now operating in concert with the RSF.
According to Daglo, RSF units seized control of Al-Dubaibat and Al-Hammadi in South Kordofan state, as well as Al-Khawi in neighboring West Kordofan. “Our fighters have secured these areas after intense clashes with Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) units and allied militias,” Daglo declared, adding that the momentum would not wane until the capital was within reach.
Sudan’s army, however, downplayed recent RSF advances as part of a “reorganization” campaign. A senior ally of the SAF—also the governor of Darfur—insisted that the military was regrouping and fortified its positions to counter what he described as “a temporary setback.” He maintained that the SAF’s strategic reserves remained intact and that front-line forces were being repositioned to mount a sustained defense of Khartoum.
As fighting has spread northward, the humanitarian situation in Khartoum has deteriorated sharply. With basic services all but collapsed, a deadly cholera outbreak has emerged in the densely populated capital. Aid agencies warn that the impending rainy season could exacerbate sanitation challenges, fueling further disease transmission. The United Nations has labeled the crisis “the world’s worst humanitarian emergency,” citing over 25,000 confirmed deaths and more than 3 million internally displaced persons since April.
International pressure has also mounted on Sudan’s transitional government. In late May, Washington imposed sanctions on Sudanese military leaders for the “alleged use of chemical weapons” against civilians. In response, the government announced a national investigation into the claims—a move it said was aimed at preserving Sudan’s international standing amid intensifying conflict.
With both sides entrenching their positions around Khartoum, observers warn that a protracted stalemate could unleash further civilian suffering. The RSF’s pledge to advance eastward has raised concerns that front-line engagements may spill into densely populated suburbs, where millions have already endured weeks of intermittent shelling and aerial bombardments. For now, the fate of Khartoum—and the broader prospects for peace—remain uncertain as paramilitary and army forces brace for a decisive showdown.
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