Terrorist wanted in Chinese attack killed in Afghanistan
QUETTA — A Baloch militant wanted over an attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi in November has been killed in a suicide blast in Afghanistan, his group has confirmed.
Aslam Baloch was believed to be one of the leaders of the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army, one of a myriad of terrorist groups fighting in Balochistan province.
He was killed on Tuesday along with four others in a blast in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province, the group said in a statement issued late on Wednesday.
Kandahar police chief Tadin Khan confirmed a suicide bombing had taken place in the provincial capital, killing two civilians. Another Afghan official who spoke anonymously said Baloch and a second member of the BLA were the targets of the attack.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Four people were killed when militants attacked China’s consulate in Karachi in November. The BLA claimed that assault, labelling Beijing an “oppressor” and “making it clear that China’s military expansionism on Baloch soil will not be tolerated”. It had warned the Chinese to leave or “be prepared for continued attacks”. The BLA is just one of the militant outfits operating in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest and poorest province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran. —