Washington/Islamabad: The US has declared the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) as a global terrorist organisation, a move decried as "unjustified" by the separatist group fighting Pakistani rule in the resource-rich Balochistan province. Pakistan in 2006 banned the outfit and has been urging the US to do the same.

"The BLA is an armed separatist group that targets security forces and civilians, mainly in ethnic Baloch areas of Pakistan," the State Department said on Tuesday. The Department of State has designated the BLA as specially designated global terrorist (SDGT) outfit and made it a crime for anyone in the US to assist the outfit's militants and freezing any US assets they may have.