Abdullah Mehsud

Infobox WoT detainees
subject_name = Abdullah Mehsud


image_size = 220px
image_caption = Abdullah Mehsud from his US "most wanted poster".
date_of_birth = 1974
place_of_birth = Helmand, Afghanistan
date_of_death = Death date|2007|07|24
place_of_death = Balochistan, Pakistan
detained_at = Guantanamo
id_number = 92
group = Taliban
alias = Said Mohammed Alim Shah
charge = no charge, held in extrajudicial detention
penalty =
status = released, allegedly "returned to the battlefield", allegedly KIA
occupation =
spouse =
parents =
children =

Abdullah Mehsud (Urdu: عبدالله محسود) (born Noor Alam; died July 24, 2007) was an Pashtun belonging to Mahsud tribe in South Waziristan, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan. Abdullah Mehsud was a member of the Taliban. The 29-year old militant commander was killed after security forces raided a house in Zhob, Balochistan, Pakistan.cite news
url=http://www.dawn.com/2007/04/30/top1.htm
title=Mehsud behind attack: Sherpao
publisher=Dawn (newspaper)
date=April 30 2007
accessdate=2007-10-24]

Early life

Mehsud was born Noor Alam, and was a member of the Mehsud clan in South Waziristan. Baitullah Mehsud, the most powerful commander in the tribal agency, is a fellow clan member. Abdullah Mehsud fought against the Northern Alliance and lost a leg to a landmine in 1996. [ [http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2007/07/pakistani_taliban_co.php Pakistani Taliban commander Abdullah Mehsud killed during raid - The Long War Journal ] ]

Capture

During the opening days of Operation Enduring Freedom, Mehsud fought against U.S. and Northern Alliance forces in Afghanistan. In December 2001, he surrendered to the Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum in Kunduz. He was handed over to the U.S. and spent 25 months in Guantanamo Bay detention camp. He was mysteriously released by the U.S. and returned to South Waziristan. The second day he reached there, he abducted three Chinese engineers which created doubts that he is working for the CIA. [ [http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2007/07/pakistani_taliban_co.php Pakistani Taliban commander Abdullah Mehsud killed during raid - The Long War Journal ] ]

Return to the battlefield

After his release, Mehsud immediately begin rebuilding his Taliban cadre. He commanded a force of up to 5,000 Taliban fighters. He then began initiating attacks on Coalition soldiers in Afghanistan.

In Waziristan, Mehsud was believed to be behind the kidnapping of two Chinese engineers from the building of the Gomal Zam Dam, which left one hostage dead during a botched rescue attempt. He was also alleged to have been behind an attack on Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao that killed 31 people. Baitullah Mehsud, before coming into the scene, suspected that Abdullah Mehsud was a double agent working for the CIA. [ [http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1199280012324&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout Islam Online] , Retrieved on March 03, 2008 ]

In 2005, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf announced that Mehsud had been killed by ISI forces, only to later retract the statement.cite news
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/25/world/asia/25pakistan.html
title=Taliban Leader Is Said to Evade Capture by Blowing Himself Up
publisher=New York Times
author=Salman Masood
date=July 25 2007
accessdate=2007-10-24]

Mehsud was one of the first three former Guantanamo captives the Bush Presidency reported had returned to the battlefield. As of July 2007 spokesmen reported that over thirty captives had returned to the battlefield, or associated with terrorists, after their release. As of July 2007 the spokesmen had named seven of those individuals.

Promise to never surrender

"Sikh Spectrum" reports that, during a telephone interview in 2004, Abdullah Mehsud promised to never surrender. cite news
url=http://www.sikhspectrum.com/022005/mehsud.htm
title=I Will Never Surrender: Abdullah Mehsud
publisher=Sikh Spectrum
author=Mohammad Shehzad
issue=19
date=February 2004
accessdate=2008-03-03
quote=]

Death

On July 24,2007, Mehsud was at a house with other militants in Zhob, Balochistan. A team of Law-Enforcement Agencies conducted a raid on the house where he was staying. Mehsud killed himself by detonating a hand grenade. During the raid, several other militants were killed and his brothers, Abdul Rahman Mehsud and Muhammad Azam, were captured along with a local Taliban leader. [Abdul Rahman Mehsud and Muhammad Azam]

Relationship with Baitullah Mehsud

Abdullah Mehsud has been described as being the brother of Baitullah Mehsud, a tribal leader of the Wazir tribe.cite news
url=http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/24/welcome.htm
title=Former Guantanamo inmate blows himself up in Pakistan
publisher=Dawn (newspaper)
date=July 24, 2007
accessdate=2008-03-03
quote=During Mehsud's time on the run, his brother Baitullah had taken over from him as one of the top Taliban commanders in Pakistan's tribal regions.] Other sources merely assert that they were clansmen, or associates.cite news
url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=BBAB&d_place=BBAB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=10BA83FB28D8CD68&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
title=Pakistan tribal leaders threaten to resume attacks against government
publisher=The News
date=July 29, 2005
accessdate=2008-03-03
quote=Baitullah Mehsud, who abandoned his more well-known colleague Abdullah Mehsud to cut a peace deal with the government some months ago in return for amnesty, has warned of "terrible attacks" against the government if he and his men...] cite news
url=http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2007/07/pakistani_taliban_co.php
title=Pakistani Taliban commander Abdullah Mehsud killed during raid
publisher=Longwar Journal
author=Bill Roggio
date=July 24, 2007
accessdate=2008-03-03
quote=Abdullah Mehsud, born Noor Alam, was a member of the Mehsud clan in South Waziristan, and was a clansman of Baitullah Mehsud, the most powerful commander in the tribal agency.] cite news
url=http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/25/top2.htm
title=Cornered militant blows himself up
publisher=Dawn (newspaper)
author=Saleem Shahid
date=July 25, 2007
accessdate=2008-03-03
quote=Security was beefed up in Zhob and on Balochistan’s border with Waziristan after the killing of Abdullah Mehsud, the most important Taliban commander in the country after Baitullah Mehsud.] "Islam Online" reports that Baitullah suspected that Abdullah was a double agent.cite news
url=http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1199280012324&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
title=Pakistan's Most Wanted
publisher=Islam Online
author=Aamir Latif
date= January 29, 2008
accessdate=2008-03-03
quote=]

Defense Intelligence Agency claims he "returned to terrorism"

The Defense Intelligence Agency asserted Abdullah Mahsud had "returned to terrorism".cite news
url=http://www.defenselink.mil/news/d20080613Returntothefightfactsheet.pdf
title=Fact Sheet: Former GTMO Detainee Terrorism Trends
publisher=Defense Intelligence Agency
author=
date=2008-06-13
accessdate=2008-07-26
quote=
format=PDF [http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.defenselink.mil%2Fnews%2Fd20080613Returntothefightfactsheet.pdf&date=2008-07-26 mirror] ] The DIA reported: quotation
Abdullah Mahsud blew himself up to avoid capture by Pakistani forces in July 2007. According to a Pakistani government official, Mahsud directed a suicide attack in April 2007 that killed 31 people. After being transferred to Afghanistan in March 2004, Mahsud sought several media interviews and became well known for his attacks in Pakistan. In October 2004, he kidnapped two Chinese engineers and claimed responsibility for an Islamabad hotel bombing.

References

External links

* [http://www.hvk.org/articles/0205/21.html Pakistan Army Pays More Than Half Million Dollars to Al Qaeda in Bizarre Deal] , South Asia Tribune, February 10, 2005