- The government raises the problem of online recruitment to social media companies.
- Six women participated in the large wave of attacks in January: officials.
- Records show an increase in female suicide bombers since 2022.
ISLAMABAD: Dressed in military uniform with rifles on their shoulders, Yasma Baloch and her husband Waseem pose smiling for a photograph released by Pakistani insurgents after their latest mission: carrying out suicide bombings.
It was among half a dozen photographs and biographies that Reuters could not immediately verify, but which analysts see as part of a propaganda effort by rebels in Balochistan.
The growing number of women is helping to boost recruitment, said Minister of State for Home Affairs Talal Chaudhry.
“It gives them popularity and reach, and makes it clear to their community that the fight has reached their homes,” Talal said. Reuters.
Pakistan has taken up the issue of online insurgent recruitment on numerous social media platforms, he added.
Three suicide bombers were among six women who took part in the group’s largest wave of attacks in January, which killed 58 people and nearly paralyzed the province, said Hamza Shafaat, a senior government official.
Before those attacks, records show a total of five female BLA suicide bombers, including the first such attack in 2022, while three more would-be bombers were captured in counter-terrorism operations in recent months.
The women’s participation amplifies a movement that the government says has increased its firepower with access to a massive cache of American weapons left in Afghanistan after Washington withdrew from the neighboring country in 2021.
“Today in South Asia, the BLA is the most organized and lethal insurgent group,” said Abdul Basit, a researcher on insurgencies and militancy at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
He cited the group’s use of drones to identify troop deployments and vulnerabilities, adding that it used satellite communication during a February 2025 hijacking of a train with more than 400 on board.
