BLA recent firearms use report (one)

In recent years, the activities of the separatists in  Balochistan region have significantly increased with more frequent attacks , causing huge casualties and material losses to the Pakistani military. Due to the changes on situations in Afghanistan, the Balochistan separatist groups were able to obtain more advanced equiment, and there have been many cases of using night vision device sto strike Pakistani army targets. This article takes the vintage Balochi separatists  “Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA)” as the research object, collects pictures of the BLA’s operations, and analyzes the use of its equiment.

Part One US-Made equiment

Differently from the situation in the Middle East where the quantity of US-made weapons is small and the price is inflated. The US weapons are served with so large numbers and low prices in Afghanistan and Pakistan that can be afforded by many militant groups. Large quantity of US-made light weapons were left in Afghanistan during the two decades of counter terrorists operation by the US military,whre large quantity of US-made light weapons were deliverd to Afganistan National Army (ANA).As Talibans entred in Kabul ,The former ANA forces collapsed.Massive US -made light weapons(especially ANA’s standard rifle M-16A2/4)were therefore flowed to civilians and surrounding areas . In a recent large-scale attack by BLA on Pakistani site, a series of sophisticated US-made weapons were used. These weapons and equiment were once equipped by ANA and were transffered from Afghanistan Smuggled into the hands of the BLA after Taliban took over Kabul.

PIC 1 Member of the BLA raid team killed by the Pakistani army. His weapon is a M-16A4 with  sophisticated accessories: ACOG optical sight, flashlight, DBAL-A2 laser pointer and an AN/PVS-7 night vision device on his head. The equiment are part of US aid to ANA that were smuggled into Pakistan during the chaos of regime change.
PIC2 Member of BLA Killed by pakistani army , a M-16A4 mounted with ACOG and DBAL-A2 can be seen .
PIC3 Equiment from a killed BLA member: the M5 RAS handgurad of M-16 rifle was damaged , two M67 granades and ammos were loaded in an improvised chestrig. All these equiments are from Afghanistan.
PIC4 A killed BLA member,a Saim SCL35 made by chinese manufacturer (Infiray) was mounted on his M-16A4 rifle.The combination of civil thermal scope and M-16 is quite common in Afghanistan, It was first used by the Taliban fighters for close-range sniping at night. ANA has also captured this combination for many times . Civilian thermal imaging has gradually spread to other groups such as ANA and IS-K. It is not difficult to obtained by BLA, the scope may even was purchased by individual. SCL35 is an old model that has been discontinued, it costs 2-4 thousand dollars in western world, and it will be absolutly more expensive to smuggle into the hands of BLA.
PIC5 Bloodstained M-16A4 rifles and a Penn Arms P540-1 pump-action revolver grenade launcher.These weapons were also supplied to ANA by US but in very small number.
PIC6 This picture indicated that the BLA team was well prepared and equipped: Several walkie-talkies, plenty of 4179 magazines, F-1 and M67 grenades, 40x46mm grenades, M-16A4 rifles and AN/PVS-7 night vision device, truncated RPG-7 and 69 rocket launchers, Bulgarian OGi-7MA And the Russian-made OG-7V two anti-personnel granade, P540-1 grenade launcher. If they encounters the Pakistani Army’s regular troops and border gurads, which are poorly equipped and trained compared to the BLA raid team, the BLA side has a greater chance to win, but in this combat the Pakistani military dispatched the elite special forces SSG, which eliminated the BLA raid team at a small cost after the regular troops suffered certain losses.
PIC7 A Bloodstained AN/PVS-7 night vision device
PIC8 The video filmed from the vision of thermal scope was released by BLA after the attack .Apparently this kind of mid-range and short-range night sniping coulld be devastating to the poorly equipped Pakistani border guards.
PIC9 A propagandistic video was released by BLA after the attack.The video showed so called Elite Forces of BLA. Multiple armed personnel in black suit can be seen ,arming M4A1 rifles smuggled from Afghanistan and a M32 MGL revolver granade launcher.

However, As we mentioned at the beginning, the history of the acquisition and use of US-made weapons by various armed groups such as the BLA is not limited to the few months after Taliban entered Kabul . As early as before the U.S. military withdrawned, BLA members had already equipped aU.S.-made weapons from Afghanistan, and their propaganda materials also repeatedly paid attention to and emphasized the U.S.-made weapons they possessed. The loss of ANA’s weapons has always been severe. M-16 and other light weapons are very common in Afghanistan and the Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas. In the border areas beyond the reach of the Pakistani government, for BLA, which operates multiple border smuggling routes, it is not difficult to obtain some these equiment . At the same time, due to the large quantity and easy acquisition, the ordinary members of the BLA will also be equipped with various US equiment, which are exclusive to elite units in militants groups from the Middle East.

PIC10 M-16A4 in good condition by BLA, the QR code indicates that these rifles were donated to ANA by US.
PIC 11 Three types of Machine gun operated by BLA :M240,M249 and Zastava M84(Serbian made PKM)
PIC 12 Earlier propaganda materials published by BLA, Multiple M-16A4 rifles mounted with accessories (ACOG,M203 etc) can be seen.
PIC 13 BLA member armed with M-16A4, scope mounted on the rifle was covered by cloth.Textiles are widely used by militant groups to protect scopes.
PIC 14 The M-16A4 on the right side with its ACOG covered by textile.
PIC 15 BLA member shows their equipment. MaTech rear sights, ACOG sights, and DBAL-A2 laser pointers were installed on the M4A1. It is the equipment of ANA elite “commando”. The source is self-evident. Next to the rifle are foldable solar panels, which are used to charge electrical devices (such as mobile phones, walkie-talkies, thermal imaging sights) outdoors, which are very useful for armed groups that operate in remote areas for a long time, Iraqi and Syrian security forces and the Middle East militants also use the such instrument.
PIC 16 The M-16A4 rifle used by BLA member was mounted with SCL35 thermal imaging scope,a bipod was also added to the rifle ,which make the rifle an ideal weapon for middle to close range shooting in low light condition.
PIC 17 two BLA members killed in action, wearing sand camo and holding M-16A4,which makes them look more “profssional”.But the uniform are only for propaganda material,BLA personnel always wear robes in their operations.(Refered to the members who was killed by pakistani army)
PIC 18 BLA member armed with a M4A1 riffle with US-made ATN MARS-HD thermal imaging scope.These equiments may also came from Afghanistan.
PIC 19 M-16A4 riffle with Saim SCL35 thermal imaging scope.

In recent years, the activities of the separatists in  Balochistan region have significantly increased with more frequent attacks , causing huge casualties and material losses to the Pakistani military. Due to the changes on situations in Afghanistan, the Balochistan separatist groups were able to obtain more advanced equiment, and there…

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