United Baloch Army (UBA; ) was a militant group, fighting for the separation of Balochistan. The group has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the Pakistani government. The government of Pakistan banned the group on 15 March 2013. The group has also been
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as a terrorist organisation by
Switzerland
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's
government
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.
The group was led by Mehran Marri and was created as a result of an intrafamilial dispute between Mehran and his brother
Hyrbyair Marri
Hyrbyair Marri () (born 1968) is an activist from (Balochistan), and president of the Free Balochistan Movement.
He is the fifth son of the Baloch nationalist leader Khair Bakhsh Marri. As of 2017, he resides in London.
Early life
Hyrbyair w ...
, the head of the
Balochistan Liberation Army
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) is a Baloch ethnonationalist militant organization based in the Balochistan region. Operating primarily from safe havens scattered across southern Afghanistan, BLA perpetrates attacks in neighboring Paki ...
(BLA). BLA fighters accused Mehran of stealing $3 million dollars from their funds and $800 million rupees worth of weapons from the BLA. The BLA and the Baloch Republican Army have both condemned UBA attacks as self-destructive. Both Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and United Baloch Army (UBA) have clashed with each other. The deadliest clash took place in
Dera Bugti
Dera Bugti ( Balochi: , Urdu: ) is a district within the Balochistan province of Pakistan. It was established as a separate district in 1983.
Administration
The district is administratively divided into the following five tehsils (subdivisio ...
Karachi
Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...
. The militants emptied the buses and then shot and killed 22 ethnic
Pashtuns
Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghan (ethnon ...
.
United Baloch Army (UBA) also claimed responsibility for attack on the
Jaffar Express
''Jaffar Express'' () is a passenger train operated daily by Pakistan Railways between Quetta and Peshawar. The trip takes approximately 34 hours, 10 minutes to cover a published distance of , traveling along a stretch of the Rohri–Chaman Ra ...
in
Sibi
Sibi (; ;) is a city situated in the Balochistan (Pakistan), Balochistan Subdivisions of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. The city serves as the administrative headquarters of the Sibi District, district and Sibi Tehsil, tehsil of the same name ...
on 8 April 2014. The attack claimed the lives of 16 people and wounded 44 others.
On 16 November 2017, Mehran Marri was arrested at
Zurich Airport
Zurich Airport is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the airline hub, principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland, and, with its surface transport links, much of the rest o ...
by Swiss immigration authorities. Mehran Marri was placed under a lifetime ban from entry into Switzerland. Swiss authorities issued a chargesheet in which they stated that Mehran Marri is the head of United Baloch Army (UBA). The chargesheet further stated that "if Marri was to enter Switzerland and work with
Brahamdagh Bugti
Brahamdagh Khan Bugti or Brahumdagh Khan Bugti ( or ) is the founder and leader of the Baloch Republican Party, a Baloch nationalist group which broke away from his uncle Talal Akbar Bugti's Jamhoori Watan Party in 2008. He is the grandson a ...
to coordinate terrorist operations, it could jeopardize the internal security of the country".
In January 2022, The Baloch Republican Army merged with the UBA, to form Baloch Nationalist Army (BNA). BRA and UBA also announced their dissolution following the establishment of
Baloch Nationalist Army
Baloch Nationalist Army (BNA) (Urdu: بلوچ نیشنلسٹ آرمی) was a militant group,