Hafiz Saeed Khan (1972 – 26 July 2016), also known as

Mullah Mullah (; ) is an honorific title for Shia and Sunni Muslim clergy or a Muslim mosque leader. The term is also sometimes used for a person who has higher education in Islamic theology and sharia law. The title has also been used in some Miz ...

Saeed

Orakzai The Orakzai are a Pashtun tribe native to the Orakzai Agency and parts of Kurram Agency located in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. They speak the language Pashto. Location The Orakzai belong to the Tirah valley located in FATA or ...

, was an

Islamic militant ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term t ...

who served as the

Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

emir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...

for its Khorasan province, which is active in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, from January 2015 until his death in July 2016. Prior to 2015, Khan was a senior commander in the

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan The Pakistani Taliban (), formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (Urdu/ ps, , lit=Student Movement of Pakistan, TTP), is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani bo ...

and initially a member of the Afghan Taliban.

Early life and family

Saeed was born in 1972 in the town of Mamozai in the

Orakzai Agency Orakzai District ( ps, اورکزو ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Kohat Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Until 2018, it was an agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas. With the merger of FATA with Khyber Pakh ...

, in the

Federally Administered Tribal Areas , conventional_long_name = Federally Administered Tribal Areas , nation = Pakistan , subdivision = Autonomous territory , image_flag = Flag of FATA.svg , image_coat = File:Coat of arms ...

near the Afghan border, and got his early education from a local cleric, Maulana Shabit, before moving to the Hangu District of

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...

, where he was admitted to the local school known as Darululoom Islamia Hangue, one of his classmates, Maulana Shahidullah, remembering him as a good student, having memorized the entire Qur’an in just one year, and for also being particularly peaceful, while in terms of private life, he first married his cousin, having two sons and a daughter, before taking another wife from the

North Waziristan District North Waziristan District ( ps, شمالي وزیرستان ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanist ...

. As opposed to most Talibans, who are

Deobandis Deobandi is a Islamic revival, revivalist movement within Sunni Islam, adhering to the Hanafi school of law, formed in the late 19th century around the Darul Uloom Deoband, Darul Uloom Madrassa in Deoband, India, from which the name derives, ...

, Saeed was a Panjpiri,

Panjpir Panjpir (Urduپنج پیر) is a town and Union council of Swabi District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan that is surrounded by Shahmansoor, Kaddi, Thand Kohi, Bam Khel, Dara and Ismailabad.Panj peer means five Sufi Sanits. Distric ...

being a town in the

Swabi District Swabi District ( ps, سوابۍ ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in the Mardan Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It lies between the Indus and Kabul Rivers. Before becoming a district in 1988, it was a tehsil within t ...

of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa known for its seminaries with

Salafi The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three generat ...

tendencies, producing many

militants The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin ...

who thus later felt a natural affinity for the ideology of the Islamic State.

Islamic militancy

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan

After the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

, Saeed went to

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

to fight against the

United States invasion of Afghanistan In late 2001, the United States and its close allies invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban government. The invasion's aims were to dismantle al-Qaeda, which had executed the September 11 attacks, and to deny it a safe base of operatio ...

with the Afghan Taliban. He remained in Kabul for two years. He became close to Baitullah Mahsud, who formed the

in 2007 and became its leader. He appointed Saeed to the majlis ash-shura and made him emir for Orakzai Agency. On August 2009, Baitullah Mahsud was killed in an American drone strike. A dispute arose as to the leadership of the TTP, with some commanders wanting Hakimullah Mahsud to assume the leadership, while Saeed wanted his ally Wali Ur Rahman to become the leader. According to Abdul Saboor Khan, a renowned analyst of tribal affairs, "The TTP split in two groups after Baitullah's killing and Saeed was not happy over the differences," In 2013 Hakimullah was himself killed in an American drone strike. "Saeed was one of the three main contenders for the top slot of the TTP chief, and I think he was disheartened when

Fazlullah Fazlallah, also spelled Fadlallah, Fazlollah, Fazlullah etc. ( ar, فضل الله )) is a male Muslim given name, composed of the elements ''Fadl'' and ''Allah'', meaning ''bounty of God''. In modern usage it may serve as a surname. It may refer t ...

was nominated", Khan said.

Islamic State

Saeed, who as a TTP commander was known for his

tendencies to the point he attacked

Hanafi The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named aft ...

seminaries, had already personally joined IS on 11 May 2013. Few months after Pakistani offensive in North Waziristan against TTP, Saeed formally left the TTP on 15 October 2014, along with seven other Taliban leaders, creating a new group called Tehrik-e Khilafat Pakistan (TKP), and pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ( ar, أبو بكر البغدادي, ʾAbū Bakr al-Baḡdādī; born Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali Muhammad al-Badri al-Samarrai ( ar, إبراهيم عواد إبراهيم علي محمد البدري السامرائي, ʾIb ...

. The other men who left alongside him were the TTP's former spokesman, Shahidullah Shahid; its

Khyber Agency Khyber District ( ps, خېبر ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Peshawar Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Until 2018, it was an agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas; with the merger of FATA with Khyber Pak ...

chief, Gul Zaman Fateh;

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

chief Mufti Hassan Swati;

Kurram Agency Kurram District ( ps, کرم ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Kohat Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.The name Kurram comes from the river Kuramá ( ps, کورمه) in Pashto which itself derives from the Sanskrit name Kr ...

chief Hafiz Dawlat Khan;commander in Waziristan, Abdul Bahar Mehsud;Bajaur commander Abu Bakr and Hangu chief Khalid Mansoor. Saeed's position as head of IS Khorasan was confirmed in a video message released by the group on 11 January. The video features a message by Shahidullah Shahid. The 13th issue of Dabiq, titled ''The Rafidah from Ibn Saba' to the Dajjal'' and published 19 January 2016, features an interview with Saeed.

US sanctions

On 29 September 2015, the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

sanctioned Saeed alongside 15 other Islamic State leaders. According to the Department of the Treasury, "Khan, as leader of ISIL-K, plays a central role in expanding ISIL’s operations in the region, commanding militants and coordinating the delivery of supplies and munitions, the travel of associates, and other arrangements. In mid-2015, Khan appointed ISIL representatives in Kunar Province and Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan and approved funding for the establishment of a training camp for ISIL fighters in western Afghanistan. ISIL militants under Khan’s command had taken control of several districts in Nangarhar Province in mid-2015".

Death

On 12 July 2015, the Afghan intelligence agency, the

National Directorate of Security prs, ریاست عمومی امنیت ملی , nativename_r = , seal = National Directorate of Security Logo.png , seal_width = , seal_caption = Seal of the National Directorate of Security , formed = , precedin ...

, claimed that Saeed was killed in a strike carried out by US-led coalition forces in coordination with intelligence provided by the spy agency, though the United States never confirmed such an operation. The Islamic State rejected the claim, but the strike did kill Shahidullah Shahid and Gul Zaman, according to senior IS leader Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost. On 12 August 2016, the United States announced that Hafiz Saeed Khan was killed in a U.S. airstrike in

Achin district Achin ( ps, اچين ولسوالۍ) is a district in southern Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, on the border with Pakistan. Its population is 100% Pashtun. Achin is home to the Shinwari tribe, one of the largest Pashtun tribes. It was a stro ...

of Afghanistan's Nangarhar Province. There was no immediate response from the group itself, and it was initially unknown who would succeed him. He was succeeded by Abdul Hasib, who was in turn killed by Afghan and US Special Forces in Nangarhar on 27 April 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Hafiz Saeed 1972 births 2016 deaths Assassinated ISIL members Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant members Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Afghanistan Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan members Taliban members Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Pakistan Leaders of Islamic terror groups People from Orakzai District Pakistani Islamists Salafi jihadists