ISLAMABAD: Baloch separatists released 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 insurgency.

The violent campaign in Balochistan poses a threat to China's planned $46 billion Pakistani economic corridor (CPEC), which culminates in the province's Gwadar port.

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

Nazar who appeared in the video was seated next to an automatic rifle and wearing an ammunition belt.

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

The BLF is one of several separatist groups that have been fighting against government forces in mineral-rich Balochistan province for almost a decade.

"We have not seen the video so we cannot comment on it," said Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Bugti.

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

Nazar, a doctor from the provincial capital of Quetta, is the most prominent Baloch separatist leader still fighting in the country. Others remain in exile, including Brahmdagh Bugti, who in August said he was ready to negotiate with the government.

Balochistan is the poorest and least developed province in the country, and separatists have been demanding an end to what they say is the exploitation of its gas and mineral resources by other parts of Pakistan.

Separatist militants have carried out frequent kidnappings and bombings against government and security targets, including gas pipelines and other infrastructure. Meanwhile, human rights groups allege the state has carried out a campaign of kidnapping, torture and extrajudicial killings of suspected separatists.