UNSC report affirms BLA-TTP nexus

Express Tribune

6 days ago

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Outlawed terrorist groups — Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), including its Majeed Brigade, and Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — have "close coordination", according to the annual report of the UN's 1988 Taliban sanctions committee monitoring team.
The United Nations Security Council report pointed out that "some BLA attacks showed a high degree of complexity and brutality", citing Jaffar Express' dramatic hijacking in Pakistan's Balochistan province on March 11, 2025, killing 31 people, including 21 hostages.
The report also took note of the April terrorist attack in Pahalgam, in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu Kashmir (IIOJK), without giving any opinion on the incident. It mentioned The Resistance Front (TRF), which initially claimed responsibility for the attack, later retracted it.
Despite intense Indian campaign, the report did not link TRF with the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), but noted that a member state had insisted that the attack could not have happened without LeT's support. At the same time, another member state, it added, rejected these views, saying that LeT was defunct.
The report said that regional relations remain fragile and "there is a risk that terrorist groups may exploit these regional tensions." It added that the TTP had approximately 6,000 fighters and continued to receive substantial logistical and operational support from the de facto authorities (Taliban).
"Some member states reported that the TTP maintained tactical-level connections with ISIL-K or Daesh," it said. "TTP continued to carry out high-profile attacks in the region, some of which incurred mass casualties," said the report.
It reported that the TTP had continued access to a range of weapons, enhancing the lethality of attacks — a reference to the military equipment left behind by the departing American troops in 2021. "One member state reported that in January 2025, the TTP provided training to terrorists in Balochistan."
The report also said that the de facto authorities in Afghanistan — Taliban — continued to maintain a permissive environment for a range of terrorist groups, including Al-Qaeda and its affiliates, posing a serious threat to the security of Central Asian and other countries.
The ISIL-K or Daesh, it added, continued to represent the most serious threat, both regionally and internationally. "With about 2,000 fighters, ISIL-K continued to recruit both inside and outside Afghanistan, including among Central Asian States and the Russian North Caucasus, as well as disaffected fighters from other groups," the report said.
"There are concerns that some extremist fighters could move from the Syrian Arab Republic to Afghanistan and further to stage operations against regional States, firstly in Central Asia."
"In North Afghanistan and areas close to the Pakistani borders, the ISIL-K indoctrinated children in madrassas, establishing a suicide training course for minors aged approximately 14 years old," the report said.
"The ISIL-K continued to prioritise attacks on Shia communities, the de facto authorities and foreigners. Under the leadership of Sanaullah Ghafari, fighters were scattered across the northern and north-eastern provinces of Afghanistan."
The ISIL-K, it added, tried to establish operations in the states neighbouring Afghanistan and globally. The efforts of the de facto authorities diminished the ISIL-K capabilities, but it continued to operate with relative impunity, exploiting discontent with Taliban governance.
"While the leadership remained predominantly Afghan Pashtun, the rank and file were now mostly of Central Asian origin. Some of the ISIL-K supporters attempting to cross borders were female, including wives of Central Asian fighters," the report added.