ISLAMABAD: Baloch separatistsreleased a video on Thursday purporting to show that their leader Allah Nazar, who the government believed it had killed in a raid in August, was alive and leading the campaign.

The date of the video released by the banned Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) could not be independently verified, but BLF spokesman Miran Baloch said it was shot in Balochistan in November.

`For quite some time the government has been issuing propaganda about my death. This is a blatant lie, said Mr Nazar, who appeared in the video sitting next to an automatic rifle and wearing an ammunition belt.

He said their fight would continue.

Two independent sources who have had contact with Mr Nazar, who has been in hiding for years, confirmed it was him in the video, although they did not know when it was filmed.

Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said: `We have not seen the video so we cannot comment on it.

In September, Mr Bugti said the government believed Allah Nazar had been killed in a military operation in Awaran district in August.-Reuters