Pakistani militants key leader killed in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

A key commander of Pakistani militants was killed in eastern Afghanistan, a local official said on Thursday.

"Chief of a terrorist group Mangal Bagh has been killed along with two other militants in a roadside bomb attack in Bandar Dara area of Achin district," Ziaulhaq Amarkhil, the provincial governor of the eastern province of Nangarhar tweeted.

Bagh was involved in several terrorist attacks in the region, he added.

He has led Lashkar-e-Islam since 2006 and was blamed for dozens of terrorist attacks in northwestern Pakistan.

Bagh, a notorious leader, was among the terrorists most wanted by Pakistani authorities for his involvement in several terror attacks in the country. The Pakistan government had also placed a bounty of Rs20 million ($124,544) on his head.

His name was also included in the most wanted terrorist list of the US State Department, Rewards for Justice, with a bounty of up to $3 million.

"Mangal Bagh is the leader of Lashkar-e-Islam, a militant faction affiliated with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). His group earns revenue from drug trafficking, smuggling, kidnapping, raids on NATO convoys, and taxes on transit trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan," according to the US State Department.

TTP, the mother organization of the Pakistani Taliban, founded in 2007 by Baitullah Mehsud -- hailing from the powerful Mehsud tribe of the South Waziristan tribal region -- however TTP stands divided into many groups. Most of its militants killed in military operations while remaining fled away to Afghanistan, according to Pakistani officials.