Afghan Biographies

Mangal Bagh


Name Mangal Bagh
Ethnic backgr. Pashtun
Date of birth 1973
Function/Grade Lashkar-e-Islam leader
History and Biodata

3. Biodata:
Mangal Bagh aka Mangal Bagh Afridi was born 1973. He was the leader (and according to some reports, founder) of Lashkar-e-Islam, a militant organization operating in Khyber Agency, Pakistan. Several Pakistani newspapers had referred to him by title as Haji Amir Mangal Bagh. He was from the Bara tehsil, and belonged to the Sepah Afridi tribe.

Bagh was 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.

The most well-known case of these militants finding a welcoming home in Nangarhar is that of the Lashkar-e Islam group led by Mangal Bagh. Local residents put the number of this group from the Khyber Agency differently, but a general estimation puts them at no fewer than 500 in the past three years (2013-2016).

The Afghan government’s support to Mangal Bagh’s men is an open secret among residents of the Spin Ghar districts near the Durand Line. Residents from Achin recall the generous hosting of groups of long-haired Lashkar-e Islam fighters at the houses of Shinwari tribal elders, such as Malek Usman and Malek Niaz, in Achin.

Mangal Bagh’s fighters, mainly from the Afridi tribe, who predominantly come from Khyber Agency, have not actually merged with ISKP, but they act in such close coordination with it that many locals perceive them as having morphed into a wing of ISKP. In an apparent power-sharing deal, Mangal Bagh’s fighters have obtained control over Nazian district, which looks like a delegation from ISKP. Lashkar-e Islam has long made up the bulk of Pakistani militants in Nazian.
 

Notorious militant commander and head of defunct Lashkar-e-Islam Chief Mangal Bagh has been killed in a US drone strike in Afghanistan Nangarhar’s province, Afghan media reported. The Pakistan government had fixed Rs 20 million bounty on his head.

The death has been confirmed by intelligence agencies and the government officials.(20160724)

 

Last Modified 2016-09-19
Established 2016-09-19