LANDI KOTAL, Oct 2: A firing squad of the banned Lashkar-i-Islam militant organisation killed one of its former commanders on Tuesday after keeping him in their custody for almost 18 months.

Sources said the firing squad shot Ghuncha Gul Zakhakhel dead in Spin Drand area of Sipah on the orders of its leader Mangal Bagh.

Ghuncha Gul, who was heading his own breakaway group Tawheedul Islam had gone missing in April last year and the LI conceded that he was in their captivity.

Roza Gul, an associate of Ghuncha, confirmed the killing and said his group was yet to receive the body.

Ghuncha Gul and Mangal Bagh had joined hands after the latter fled from Bara during an operation in 2004 and took shelter in Gogrina village of Bazaar Zakhakhel.

Sources said Ghuncha Gul headed a gang of kidnappers before joining Mangal Bagh and he was wanted by the political administration in a number of criminal cases.

Ghuncha Gul and his associates developed differences with Mangal over the kidnapping and killing of Zakhakhel cleric Maulana Mohammad Hashim in March 2011.

Collection of charges from vehicles transporting smuggled goods from Afghanistan via Bazaar Zakhakhel area was another bone of contention between the two militant chieftains.