Fugitive Pakistani killed in Afghan blast

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A fugitive militant leader from Pakistan who carried a $3 million U.S. bounty for alleged terrorist activities was killed by a roadside bomb in neighboring Afghanistan along with two associates, an Afghan official said Friday.

The commander, Manghal Bagh, led an outlawed militant group called Lashkar-e-Islam, or Army of Islam. The group had frequently targeted Pakistani troops in the country’s northwest until the mid-2010s, when Pakistan undertook several military operations to clear the region of militants.

Bagh had been on the run until his death Thursday in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, governor Ziaulhaq Amarkhil tweeted. He did not say who was behind the bombing that killed Bagh and his two companions, but said the militant leader had been involved in attacks in Afghanistan. The U.S. announced the bounty for Bagh in 2018. Bagh and his group had a strong presence in northwest Pakistan’s Tirah Valley until the authorities said the mountainous region was cleared of militants, including the Pakistani Taliban and remnants of al-Qaida. Since then, it was believed that Bagh was hiding in Afghanistan.

Northwestern Pakistan still sees sporadic attacks, mainly targeting security forces. Earlier this month, Pakistan’s military said it had nearly completed a fence along the border with Afghanistan, which it says is necessary to prevent militant attacks from both sides of the 1,622-mile border, known as the Durand Line.

Afghanistan has never recognized the border, which runs through the Pashtun heartland, diluting the power of Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group on both sides.