Wali-ur-Rehman (Wali Ur-Rehman Mehsud) (1970 – 29 May 2013) was a senior Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander based in South Waziristan. Wali-ur-Rehman was formerly a spokesman for Baitullah Mehsud, the late leader of the TTP.

Background

Wali-ur-Rehman's family hails from the Mal Khel branch of the

Mehsud tribe The Mahsud or Mehsood ( ps, محسود), also spelled Maseed ( ps, ماسيد), is a Karlani Pashtun tribe inhabiting mostly the South Waziristan Agency in the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, now merged within ...

in South Waziristan. In 1996, he finished studies at the Jamia Islamia Imdadia madrassa in Faisalabad and returned to South Waziristan to teach in a madrassa in Kani Guram. He was affiliated with the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) party prior to joining the Taliban in 2004. Following Baitullah Mehsud's death in a missile attack launched from a Predator drone, a shura convened to choose his successor to lead the Pakistani Taliban. Wali-ur-Rehman was considered a contender for leadership. On 9 August 2009, it was rumored that a heated exchange at the shura escalated to open gunfire, and Wali-ur-Rehman allegedly shot Hakimullah Mehsud, another leadership contender. Rehman called a Reuters reporter to deny that there was fighting or a shura. He and Hakimullah later telephoned the BBC to confirm the death of Baitullah Mehsud. On 2 November 2009, Pakistani authorities offered a Rs50 million ($600,000) reward for information that leads to the capture or killing of Wali-ur-Rehman. They offered the same reward for similar information regarding Hakimullah Mehsud and Qari Hussain and smaller rewards for 16 other TTP militants. On 1 September 2010, the United States added he and Hakimullah Mehsud to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists and the TTP to its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. On 26 August 2011, an interview with him was aired on

Al-Arabiya TV Al Arabiya ( ar, العربية, Arabic romanization, transliterated: '; meaning "The Arabic One" or "The Arab One") is an International broadcasting, international Modern Standard Arabic, Arabic news television channel, currently based in Dub ...

, in which he threatened to "wreak vengeance" on the U.S. and NATO (especially France and Britain) with "an attack greater than 9/11."

Death

On 29 May 2013, Wali-ur-Rehman was reportedly killed by a

US drone strike Drone warfare is a form of aerial warfare using unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) or weaponized commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The United States, United Kingdom, Israel, China, South Korea, Iran, Italy, France, India, Pakista ...

on a compound in the Chashma area of Miranshah, the main town of the North Waziristan tribal region in northwest Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan. The strike also killed six of his associates. His death was confirmed by Tehrik-e-Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan on 30 May 2013.

Retaliatory attack

In retaliation, the Jundul Hafsa group of the Taliban took credit for storming the base camp of the mountain Nanga Parbat. Two guides were abducted, who led them to a site where 10 foreign tourists were killed, including two Chinese, one Chinese-American and one Nepalese. Other reports said five Ukrainians and one Russian were killed. A Taliban spokesman stated "By killing foreigners, we wanted to give a message to the world to play their role in bringing an end to the drone attacks."Fox News American among 10 foreign tourists shot dead in Pakistan. Published 23 June 2013 Associated Press
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References

{{Tehrik 1970 births 2013 deaths Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List Individuals designated as terrorists by the United States government Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) politicians Pashtun people Taliban spokespersons Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan members Deaths by United States drone strikes in Pakistan Pakistani Islamists