Mangal Bagh killed in Afghanistan

PESHAWAR: A known Pakistani militant commander Mangal Bagh was killed in a bomb explosion in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province on Thursday, Afghan officials and locals in the area said.

Ziaul Haq Amarkhel, the governor of Nangarhar, said in a statement that the Lashkar-i-Islami terrorist group’s leader Mangal Bagh was killed in a bomb blast along with his two security guards.

Mangal Bagh, stated to be in his early 50s and also known as Mangal Bagh Afridi, was the head of the outlawed militant group, Lashkar-i-Islam. He fought against the state and other militant groups in Khyber tribal district before escaping to Afghanistan following the 2008 military action in Bara and later Tirah valley.

According to Afghan officials and locals, Mangal Bagh had gone to his son’s house in Bandar Darra in Achin district in Nangarhar at around noon when the incident took place. He was reportedly leaving the house of his son when a bomb placed in the doorstep exploded. He was killed on the spot along with his 13-year daughter and two security guards.

No individual or group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. However, he had earned enmity of many people due to his strong-arm methods and because he had been changing alliances. He had once in the past become any ally of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the country’s biggest terrorist group, before joining hands with the ISIS, or Daesh. Afghan Taliban sources said Mangal Bagh had once joined forces with the Afghan government-backed militia known as Arbaki to fight the Afghan Taliban in Nangarhar province.

In the past also, news reports had circulated that Mangal Bagh has been killed, but these proved wrong. However, this time his death has been confirmed by different sources, including Afghan officials.

Mangal Bagh, who in the past used to work as a conductor and cleaner of the bus plying between Bara and Peshawar, was an aide in Bara tehsil to the Deobandi cleric Mufti Munir Shakir, who had been expelled from his native Kurram district for fanning sectarianism. When Mufti Munir Shakir became involved in a tussle with an Afghan cleric Saifur Rahman, the government expelled both from Bara to prevent armed confrontation between their followers. This left the space open for Mangal Bagh to lead Mufti Munir Shakir’s group and he quickly overpowered some of his rivals to become the dominant armed force in Bara.

Mangal Bagh, who belonged to the Sepah sub-tribe of the Afridis, shifted to the remote Tirah valley when the Pakistani security forces launched an operation against him. The subsequent military action in Tirah valley forced him to flee to Afghanistan and seek refuge in Nangarhar bordering Pakistan’s Khyber district. While based in Afghanistan, he continued to use an FM radio channel to convey his message and propaganda and rally his supporters to his cause.

He was once reportedly injured in fighting and was provided medical treatment in an Afghan government hospital in Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar.

Mangal Bagh from his base in Bara and later in Tirah used to summon people to provide answers to complaints about their behavior and non-cooperation with Lashkar-i-Islam. He used to extort money and decide cases of disputes between the tribesmen. Afridi tribesmen who had sought refuge in Peshawar due to his fear were also ordered to appear before him, pay him money and submit to his verdicts.