The cleric Munir Shakir, the founder of Lashkar-i-Islam, succumbed to the wounds he received from an explosion in Peshawar on Saturday, according to an official.
A statement from the police spokesman said that the incident took place in the vicinity of the Urmur and Mufti Shakir police station was injured in his left foot in the explosion. He said that the other three injured in the incident were Khushal, Abid and Syed Nabi.
The statement added that the police personnel, the Bomb Remove Unit and the counter-terrorism department were present at the scene and evidence was collected.
In a video message, Mohammad As As, spokesman for the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), said: “Mufti Shakir was taken to LRH in critical condition and succumbed to his wounds,” and added that the hospital was in the process of delivering the body to his heirs.
Special Assistant of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s main minister about health, Ehtesham Ali, issued a statement on the matter, saying that he was “deeply sad” when he heard the development.
CM Ali Amin Gandapur condemned the explosion and sought a report by police authorities on the incident. The main minister ordered the authorities to carry out the “necessary steps” to arrest the suspects behind the explosion and expressed their best wishes for the rapid recovery of the injured.
CM Gandapur also ordered the hospital administration to provide the best medical assistance available for injured.
Lashkar-i-Islam, a militant organization based in Bara in the tribal region of Khyber directed by Mangal Bagh, was prohibited in 2008.
A local cleric in Bara, Mufti Shakir, formed the Lashkar-I-Islam in December 2004 after Sipah and Malikdinkhel Tribesmen announced their full loyalty to him. However, the cleric was expelled from the Barkarkhel Bar area after only six months due to its extremist views and differences with Haji Namdar, another militant commander of the area.
Both Mufti Shakir and Pir Saifur Rehman were forced to get out of Bara after a local elder jirga gave a consensus verdict after the essays clashes between the supporters of the two in early 2005. Mangal Bagh, a bus driver, the militant turned into a militant, was raised to the position of Amir (Chief) of Lashkar-Iislamla in May 2005.
The Pakistani security forces demolished the house of Haji Rabat and destroyed the FM radio station established in a mosque after the first military operation against Lashkar-i-Islam began in mid-2005.
Additional Umar Bacha reports.
