Video shows old warning from Pakistani gunmen to China, not after train siege

After a deadly train siege in southwestern Pakistan in March, gunmen are said to have threatened violence against China surfaced online. Separatist groups claiming the attack regularly targeted Beijing’s interests in Pakistan’s Bal Luzhi province, but the videotape showed an earlier threat in May 2019.

“Break: Bal Lu Branch PLA sends a shocking warning to China and Pakistan: ‘If you don’t want to die, please exit from Bal Lu Branch,” a section shared on March 12, 2025.

It surfaced after the Bal Road Branch People’s Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for bombing the railway tracks in the southwestern Bal Road Branch on March 11 and attacking the railway tracks of the train. Officials said the siege killed about 60 people, half of which were the separatists behind the attack (archive).

The BLA is one of the separatist groups accusing outsiders of plundering poor but mineral-rich provinces bordering Iran and Afghanistan. It regularly targets the Chinese nationals and interests of the region, and Beijing participates in lucrative mining and energy projects (links to archives).

Screenshot of fake posts, taken on March 21, 2025

Similar posts on X and Facebook also mistakenly introduce clips of masked gunmen threatening Pakistan and China.

However, a screenshot of the reverse image search for the key frame of the clipper was found on Google in a report on May 19, 2019 in the local Balochistan Post (Archive Link).

The report reads on the title: “Bla Majid Brigade has released a new video message.” The report also said that the BLA released a 25-minute clip after the attack on the luxury Pearl Continental hotel in Guadal on the southern coast of Pakistan.

A BLA spokesman at the time said that Chinese and Pakistani investors who visited the hotel were the target (archive link).

The hotel is situated on a ridge overlooking the Arabian Sea port city, formerly a small fishing village and is now the flagship project of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, part of the China Belt and Road Initiative.

CPEC attempts to connect the western province of Xinjiang with Guadal and use the port as the development of the planned flagship project (archive link).

Google keyword search also surfaced, with the video dated May 19, 2019.

AFP has not found official reports after the train siege in March, the BLA released a videotape warning Pakistan and China.