Karachi: Banned militant group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which claimed the attack targeting Chinese nationals at the University of Karachi on Tuesday, in a first used a female suicide bomber to carry out the terror strike.
This is the first time that the BLA has used a female suicide bomber, which has set a precedent of a dangerous redefinition of insurgency that co-relates to other terrorist organisations which have used female suicide bombers as part of their targeted suicide attacks in the past.
The female suicide bomber named Sharan Baloch aka Shari Baloch carried at least 3 kg of explosives and blew herself up as the vehicle carrying at least three Chinese nationals reached close to the gate of the Confucius Institute, located inside the premises of University of Karachi, killing herself and her desired targets, claiming lives of professor Huang Guiping, Director at Confucius Institute; Ding Mufang and Chen Sai, both faculty members at the Confucius Institute; and the driver of the van, a Pakistani national.
Shari Baloch was the first affiliate of the BLA Majeed Brigade to carry out a suicide attack, revealing the new redefinition of insurgency tactic being opted by the group.
This also reveals that BLA has now started to follow the same dangerous footsteps, which have been undertaken by global terrorist groups, including Boko Haram in Nigeria, Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria, Afghan Taliban in Afghanistan, and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Pakistan.
“This is the fifth rebellion in Balochistan, and the current one is the longest, which broke out in early 2000. Still, it’s the first time that the BLA has used a female suicide bomber to attack Chinese nationals in Karachi,” said Kiyya Baloch, a journalist who has spent many years closely following the Baloch militancy.
Use of a female suicide bomber by the BLA can have many reasons. Kiyya believes that one of the many reasons is the intense crackdown against Baloch activists suspected of having links to separatists.
“There is an intense crackdown on Baloch activists suspected of having links to separatists. Women attract less suspicion and can easily gain access to their targets,” Kiyya said.
“Also, the female who carried out the suicide attack in Karachi was a burqa-clad woman, which helped in hiding explosives. This is a shocking but new strategy in the Baloch movement,” he added.
Another reason for deploying a female suicide bomber is that previous suicide attacks by Baloch armed men have failed to achieve their targeted results.
In 2018, the BLA had claimed responsibility for an attack at the Chinese Consulate in Karachi. The attack was targeted at the Chinese officials, but was foiled by the Pakistani security forces.
In 2019, BLA had claimed another attack at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Gawadar. The attack was targeted at Chinese engineers working at the Gawadar port. But it had failed because of the quick response of the security forces.
In 2020, the BLA had claimed a major attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSE) in Karachi. But the attackers failed to enter the building and were neutralised at the gate of the premises.
However, the current attack at Karachi University got the desired result and is being viewed as a successful attack.
And since the Karachi suicide attack by a female bomber was successful in hitting its target, it is feared that it will attract and give confidence to more women in following the same strategy and offer themselves for more terror strikes in the future.
The use of a female suicide bomber by the BLA is not only a redefinition of insurgency tactic and war plan by the group, it also seems to be the start to a major challenge for the Pakistani security forces, who, in the case of the Karachi suicide attack, were caught by surprise by the use of a female suicide bomber.
