Who’s who in the Pakistan Taliban
New reports surfaced Sunday that Pakistan Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud died after a US drone attack Jan. 14. A look at other senior figures in the group.
A US Predator drone flew over the moon above Kandahar Air Field in southern Afghanistan on Sunday. The Pakistani Army said Sunday it was investigating reports that Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud died from injuries sustained in a US drone missile strike in mid-January.
Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
Islamabad, Pakistan
Questions resurfaced this week as to whether Hakimullah Mehsud, the brash young commander of the Pakistani Taliban, was killed by a US drone attack on Jan. 14.
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Renewed speculation that the Taliban leader was dead was sparked by a report on Pakistani state television Sunday night saying he had been buried.
The Taliban denied the report through their spokesman, Azam Tariq. Pakistan Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said the military is still seeking confirmation.
Mr. Mehsud took power last August when his predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, died from injuries sustained in a US airstrike.
Here’s a list of possible contenders to succeed Hakimullah, as well as other key figures in the Pakistani Taliban.
Waliur Rehman
As deputy leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Waliur Rehman, a former spokesman for Baitullah Mehsud, is the opposite of the fiery Hakimullah. He's quiet, serious, and brooding. The religious scholar – whose studies qualify him for the honorific of “mullah” – lacks Hakimullah’s charisma and reputation for boldness but retains a sizable following.
Following Baitullah’s death in August 2009, Pakistani intelligence officials reported that Mr. Rehman and Hakimullah had engaged in a gun battle that left one or both of them dead. That was proved untrue when both men posed for cameras at a press conference last October, though reports of rivalry between the two men persisted. The Pakistani government currently has a $600,000 bounty on Rehman's head.
According to Rifaat Hussain, a security analyst at the Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad, Rehman and others “may now be having second thoughts about mounting a leadership bid, perhaps fearing that he will meet the same fate as the previous two occupants of the post.”
Qari Hussain
The so-called father of suicide bombers and a top lieutenant of Hakimullah's, Qari Hussain was also reported to have been killed in a drone strike in Makeen, South Waziristan, last summer, but later reemerged in the October press conference alongside Rehman and Hakimullah.
A cousin of former leader Baitullah, Mr. Hussain’s reputation was built on running training camps for suicide bombers and directing a series of suicide bomb attacks in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) aimed at killing tribal elders and supplanting their rule.
