LANDI KOTAL (Khyber Agency), May 15: The self-proclaimed leader of the Lashkar-i-Islami, Haji Mangal Bagh, has threatened to block all routes to Tirah valley if the Khyber Agency administration does not release his supporters by Monday.

Addressing a meeting of his supporters at Nala-Malikdinkhel in Bara on Sunday, Mangal Bagh called upon the authorities to order release of his men without delay.

The political authorities in one and a half month had rounded up dozens of Lashkar-i-Islami activists in their bid to close down an FM radio station established in Gogrina village of Bazaar sub tehsil.

The administration on March 30 forced Mangal Bagh and his armed activists to leave Nala after a mortar shell fired from Fort Saloop hit their FM station in the locality. Since then Mangal Bagh was residing in Gogrina and has established another illegal FM radio station.

The meeting at Nala was held in violation of the administration’s ban on Mangal Bagh and his supporters’ entry into Bara.