ISLAMABAD, Aug 12, (AP): The United States designated a Pakistan separatist group as a foreign terrorist organization, the State Department said, a move hailed Tuesday by Pakistani officials. The designation of the Balochistan Liberation Army and its fighting wing, the Majeed Brigade, blamed for deadly attacks in Balochistan province, coincides with a visit to the US by Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir.

The announcement comes less than two weeks after Washington and Islamabad reached a trade agreement expected to allow U.S. firms to help develop Pakistan’s largely untapped oil reserves in resource-rich Balochistan and to lower trade tariffs for Islamabad. The State Department is "designating the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and its alias, the Majeed Brigade, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), and adding the Majeed Brigade as an alias to BLA’s previous Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) designation," the agency said in a statement.

The BLA was first designated a terrorist group in 2019 by the U.S. Treasury Department after several attacks. The State Department said its designation was added because since then the group has claimed responsibility for additional attacks. The BLA claimed responsibility for suicide bombings near the airport in Karachi and in the port city of Gwadar in Balochistan in 2024, the statement said.

The group said it carried out the March hijacking of the Jaffar Express train traveling from Quetta to Peshawar, killing 31 civilians and security personnel and holding more than 300 passengers hostage, the State Department said. "Today’s action taken by the Department of State demonstrates the Trump administration’s commitment to countering terrorism,” the US statement said. Syed Muhammad Ali, an Islamabad-based security analyst, said the designation of the BLA and its Majeed Brigade fighting wing follows Munir’s visits to the US.

The designation "indicates a major policy shift by the Trump administration toward South Asia, highlighting the growing role of military diplomacy, deepening bilateral cooperation on counterterrorism, and showing that Washington shares Pakistan’s security concerns about Baloch insurgents,” he said.