Pakistani Taliban leader (late)
Born: 1979 - Bannu, North Waziristan
Profession: Ex Pakistani Taliban leader
Affiliation(s): Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan
Citizenship: Pakistani
Profile Hakimullah Mehsud (1979 − 1 November 2013), born Jamshed Mehsud and also known as Zulfiqar Mehsud, was the emir of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). He was deputy to commander Baitullah Mehsud and one of the leaders of the militant group Fedayeen al-Islam prior to the elder Mehsud's death in a CIA drone missile strike. He had been the TTP's commander in the Khyber, Kurram and Orakzai agencies of Pakistan. He was described as being born about 1979 and a cousin of Qari Hussain. He was known to be a young and aggressive field commander, who previously served as a driver and was very close to Baitullah Mehsud. Hakimullah Mehsud maintained ties to al-Qaeda, the Afghan Taliban and various Pakistani jihadist groups, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and Jaish-e-Mohammed. Reports initially indicated he was fatally wounded on 14 January 2010 by a US drone attack although two videos released by the TTP in 2010 and 2011 proved that he survived the attack. Mehsud was reported by Pakistani intelligence to have been killed by US drone strike on 12 January 2012. However, the Pakistani Taliban initially denied the claim. It was later confirmed by the group that he was killed in a drone strike on 1 November 2013. Hakimullah Mehsud was a regular caller to the BBC and only last month told interviewer "Don't be afraid, we all have to die one day" Early years Hakimullah was born Jamshed Mehsud in the region of Kotkai near the town of Jandola in South Waziristan in 1979. Mehsud was educated in a small village madrassa in Hangu District. Baitullah Mehsud also attended the same school but eventually dropped out. Militant activity Jihad Jamshed Mehsud joined his clansman Baitullah in jihad, initially as his bodyguard and aide. He adopted the nom de guerre Zulfiqar, then later took the name Hakimullah, meaning one who has knowledge. He gained a reputation within the Taliban for his battle skills with the AK-47 and the Toyota pick-up truck. One Taliban member told a BBC correspondent that at the time Hakimullah's reputed skills were second only to Nek Mohammad. In 2004, he was made a spokesman. He organised a series of raids against US military convoys between the summer of 2007 and the spring of 2008 that forced the closure of the Khyber Pass six times. In 2008, he was given command of the Orakzai, Khyber and Kurram districts. Washington suspected him of helping mastermind the single deadliest strike against the CIA in the last quarter century, when a Jordanian suicide bomber, posing as an al-Qaeda informant, blew himself up during a rendezvous at a CIA base near Khost in Afghanistan in 2009. Having previously gained their confidence with promises of information, the bomber did not undergo a routine body search, allowing him to detonate a suicide vest at close quarters that killed seven CIA agents and wounded another six. The incident was later recreated in the film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, Zero Dark 30. The attack on the CIA base was believed to be in revenge for a US drone strike four months earlier that killed the previous overall leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud. Hakimullah then took over from him, having distinguished himself in battle previously by leading a raid that captured 300 Pakistani soldiers in 2007. Tehrik-e-Taliban On 22 August 2009, Hakimullah Mehsud was appointed unanimously as the new leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban by a 42-member shura. Analysts cited by The Daily Times interpreted the appointment of the 28-year-old commander as a way to admit the death of Baitullah Mehsud although spokesmen for the group continued to vehemently deny his passing, instead saying he was ill. His youthful looks and fondness for the media – he was a regular caller to the BBC's Urdu Service – went hand in hand with a fierce anger and a visceral loathing of both the United States and Pakistan's government, which he vowed to replace with an Islamic one. He also had a keen sense of showmanship. In 2007, he terrified a BBC crew who came to interview him by demonstrating his skills with a Toyota pick up truck, hurtling around razor-sharp mountain bends and then pulling up just inches short of a precipitous drop. Baitullah's successor Pakistani news channels reported on 8 August 2009 that Hakimullah Mehsud was killed after shooting erupted between his camp and that of Wali-ur-Rehman during a shura to determine the successor to the slain Baitullah Mehsud. Interior Minister Rehman Malik could not confirm the death only that the fighting had occurred. On 10 August, a man claiming to be Hakimullah Mehsud called a Reuters reporter to declare that he and Baitullah were still alive. While the reporter was certain that the call was authentic, Pakistani officials awaited voice analysis results and stated that intercepted phone calls led to the intelligence of Hakimullah's death. Wali-ur-Rehman telephoned a Reuters reporter to say that Hakimullah is alive, and would be calling soon, and that the first shura where the shooting supposedly occurred never took place. Rewards for capture Pakistan bounty On 2 November 2009 Pakistani authorities offered a Rs.50 million ($600,000) reward for information that lead to the capture or killing of Hakimullah Mehsud. They offered the same reward for similar information regarding Wali-ur-Rehman and Qari Hussain and smaller rewards for 16 other TTP militants. United States bounty On 1 September 2010 the United States added the militant leader to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists and the TTP to its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The FBI posted a reward of $5 million for information leading to his capture. Death On 1 November 2013, a senior Taliban source confirmed that a US drone strike in Pakistan killed Mehsud in the village of Dande Darpa Khel in North Waziristan. Dande Darpa Khel was the site of the Dande Darpa Khel airstrike in 2008. The drone strike also killed his uncle, cousin, and guard. Only last month, he gave an interview to one of the corporation's local journalists, in which he said he was willing to engage in peace talks with the Pakistani government as long as US drone strikes were stopped. He denied being responsible for terror attacks on Pakistani civilians, which have killed thousands in recent years. The interview was the first time he had surfaced publicly in more than a year, and was proof that several previous claims by both Western and Pakistani intelligence sources that he had been killed in a drone strike were untrue. But with hindsight, it seems the US was closing in all the time. During last month's audience with BBC journalist Ahmed Wali Mujeeb, which was held at a remote mountain hideout, drones regularly flew overhead. "Don't be afraid, we all have to die one day," he told Mr Mujeeb – a prophecy that came true perhaps sooner than he expected.
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