Cleric Mufti Munir Shakir, the founder of the outlawed Lashkar-i-Islam, was among four people injured in Peshawar on Saturday due to a blast, according to the police.
A statement from the police spokesperson said the incident took place in the vicinity of Armar Police Station and Mufti Shakir was injured on his left foot in the blast. It said the others injured in the incident were Khushal, Abid and Syed Nabi.
The statement added that personnel from the police, bomb disposal unit and Counter-Terrorism Department were present at the scene and evidence was being collected.
Lashkar-i-Islam — a Bara-based militant organisation in Khyber tribal region led by Mangal Bagh — was banned 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 allegiance to him. However, the cleric was expelled from Bar Qambarkhel area after only six months owing to his extremist views and differences with Haji Namdar, another militant commander of the area.
Both Mufti Shakir and Pir Saifur Rehman were forced to leave Bara after a jirga of local elders gave a consensus verdict following bloody clashes between the supporters of the two in early 2005. Mangal Bagh, a bus driver-turned-militant was elevated to the position of amir (chief) of Lashkar-i-Islam in May 2005.
Pakistani security forces demolished the house of Haji Rabat and destroyed the FM radio station set up in a mosque after they started the first military operation against Lashkar-i-Islam in mid-2005.
