LAHORE - Mangal Bagh, one of the most-wanted terrorists in Islamabad’s list, has been taken out in a US drone strike in Afghanistan with the help of information inputs of Pakistani security agencies, security officials told The Nation yesterday.

The chief of banned Lashkar-e-Islam was reportedly injured in a drone strike on the night of July 22 in Khoudi Khola area of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province bordering with Pakistan. On Sunday, he succumbed to his injuries, Afghan media reports claimed while quoting intelligence and Taliban sources.

The Lashkar-e-Islam however had not yet confirmed the reports of the death of their chief.

Bagh was wanted by Pakistani security forces for involvement in a number of terrorist activities and government had fixed Rs20 million bounty on his head.

More than two major attempts were made to hunt down Mangal Bagh by the western intelligence agencies with inputs from Pakistan’s leading secret services.

Lashkar-e-Islam chief should be considered dead as no “proof of life” has appeared from his group, a security official told The Nation.

Khyber Agency, once a bastion of Lashkar-e-Islam and other sorts of terrorist organisations, was cleared by the Pak Army in Operation Khyber-1 and 2. Mangal Bagh along with some of his gang members managed to slip into Nangarhar during the operation.

Bagh was also a drug baron. The drugs were transported in his territory from neighbouring Afghanistan with his seal on the letter head of his terror outfit. His terror outfit was a big cover to advance his criminal enterprise uninterrupted, security officials told this paper.

In case of reports about their death, terror gangs usually prove their leaders alive through video or audio messages, security experts said. The security agencies conduct sampling and analysis tests to verify such proofs, which is important for any terror outfit to sustain their fear power and avert divisions, they added.

Pakistan’s security services have a network of human intelligence to know about the possible plans and movements of enemies of state operating from Afghan soil but remoteness of the areas makes it difficult for them to get information immediately, the security officials said.

There are all the indications that Mangal Bagh is dead, but efforts were on to confirm it from our human intelligence sources, a security official said.

In earlier raids in Afghanistan on Mangal Bagh, one of his close aides Zakir Qamar was killed sometime back. One of his key lieutenants Zareef alias Aqa Zafar had also been caught from Chakwal district of north Punjab in an intelligence-led operation who managed to slip into Punjab during the military operation.

Pakistan made efforts for a comprehensive intelligence cooperation agreement with Afghanistan to deal with the security challenges facing the two countries, but anti-Pakistan lobby there did not let that happen. Islamabad therefore have to pass on intelligence to western secret services to eliminate its most-wanted targets hiding in Afghanistan, said the security officials.