Mangal Bagh

Mangal Bagh (born 1973),[1] also known as Mangal Bagh Afridi, is the leader (and according to some reports, founder) of Lashkar-e-Islam, a militant organization operating in Khyber Agency, Pakistan. Several Pakistani newspapers have referred to him by title as Haji Amir Mangal Bagh Afridi.[2] He is from the Bara tehsil, and belongs to the Sepah Afridi tribe.[1]

Bagh is said to be a successor of Mufti Munir Shakir, a Deobandi cleric who established a pirate radio ministry in Khyber Agency in 2004 after being ejected from Kurram Agency by tribal elders for inciting sectarian hostility. When Shakir was ejected from Khyber Agency, he turned over his radio station to Bagh, a local driver, and Bagh then formed the militant group Lashkar-e-Islam.[3] Mangal Bagh was originally believed to have been killed in a drone attack on 22 July 2016 in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan.[4]

However, in May 2017, Inter-Services Public Relations tacitly admitted that reports of Bagh's death were false when they announced that Pakistani forces conducted an operation in Khyber Agency, killing several militants after receiving a tip-off relating to the presence of Bagh.[5]

Reports of Bagh's death were proven false when the United States added Bagh to the U.S. State Department's Rewards for Justice wanted list on March 7, 2018.[6]