Hakimullah Mehsud

Hakimullah Mehsud (Pashto/Urdu: حکیم اللہ محسود‎‎; c. 1978 or 1981 − 1 November 2013), born Jamshed Mehsud (جمشید محسود‎) and also known as Zulfiqar Mehsud (ذو الفقار محسود), was a Pakistani militant who 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-Islamprior 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 Talibanand 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 U.S. 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 a U.S. drone strike on 12 January 2012. However, the Pakistani Taliban denied the claim. It was later confirmed by the group that he was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan on 1 November 2013.