Abdullah Mehsud

{{Short description|Pakistani militant commander}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} {{Infobox War on Terror detainee | name = Abdullah Mehsud | image = Abdullah Mehsud -- most wanted poster.png | image_size = 220px | caption = Abdullah Mehsud from his US "most wanted poster". | birth_name = Alam Mehsud | birth_date = 1977<ref>{{cite web |url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/DIA_Af-Pak_wanted_posters,_October_2006.pdf |title=Wanted – Abdullah Mahsud|date=October 2006|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019133107/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/DIA_Af-Pak_wanted_posters,_October_2006.pdf|archivedate=October 19, 2021|page=36}}</ref> | birth_place = Nano Village, South Waziristan | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2007|07|24|1977}} | death_place = Balochistan, Pakistan | detained_at = Guantanamo | id_number = 92 | group = Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (Pakistani Taliban) | alias = Alam Mehsud (birth name) | charge = No charge, held in extrajudicial detention | penalty = | status = Released, "returned to the battlefield", KIA }}

'''Abdullah Mehsud''' ({{langx|ps|عبدالله مهسود}}; {{langx|ur|عبدالله محسود}}; 1977 – 24 July 2007) was a Pashtun militant commander who was killed by Pakistani Army in Zhob after security forces raided his dwelling in Zhob, Balochistan, Pakistan.<ref name=Dawn20070430> {{cite news |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/244781/mehsud-behind-attack-sherpao |title=Mehsud behind attack: Sherpao |publisher=Dawn |date=30 April 2007 |access-date=24 October 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222418/http://www.dawn.com/2007/04/30/top1.htm |archive-date=27 September 2007 }}</ref> He belonged to the Mahsud tribe.

American authorities later claimed that he had originally been a prisoner in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, who was judicially released and subsequently "returned to terrorism".

== Early life == Abdullah Mehsud (Muhammad Alam Mahsud) was born in 1977 in Nano village of South Waziristan, and was a Pashtun, part of the Mehsud tribe's SlimiKhel clan in South Waziristan which is the homeland of the Meshud tribe located in northwest Pakistan. Abdullah Mehsud fought against the Northern Alliance and lost a leg to a landmine in 1996.<ref>[http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2007/07/pakistani_taliban_co.php Pakistani Taliban commander Abdullah Mehsud killed during raid - The Long War Journal]</ref>

== 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 the Battle of Kunduz.<ref>South Asia Tribune, [http://www.hvk.org/articles/0205/21.html Pakistan Army pays more than half million dollars to al-Qaeda in bizarre deal] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929120906/http://www.hvk.org/articles/0205/21.html |date=29 September 2007 }}, 10 February 2005</ref> He was handed over to the U.S. and spent 25 months in Guantanamo Bay detention camp, where he was fitted with a prosthetic limb.<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,161171,00.html Pakistani Officers: Gitmo Detainees Abuse Guards]</ref> He was released by the U.S. and returned to South Waziristan.

== Relationship with Baitullah Mehsud == Abdullah Mehsud had no relationship with Baitullah Mehsud, a tribal leader of the Mehsud tribe.<ref name="Dawn20070724"> {{cite news |url=http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/24/welcome.htm |title=Former Guantanamo inmate blows himself up in Pakistan |publisher=Dawn |date=24 July 2007 |accessdate=3 March 2008 |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. |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007032525/http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/24/welcome.htm |archivedate=7 October 2008 |df=dmy }}</ref> Other sources merely assert that they were clansmen, or associates.<ref name="TheNews20050729"> {{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=29 July 2005 | accessdate=3 March 2008 | 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... }}</ref><ref name="LongwarJournal"> {{cite news | url=http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2007/07/pakistani_taliban_co.php | title=Pakistani Taliban commander Abdullah Mehsud killed during raid | publisher=Long War Journal | author=Bill Roggio | author-link=Bill Roggio | date=24 July 2007 | accessdate=3 March 2008 | 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. }}</ref><ref name="Dawn20070725"> {{cite news | url=https://www.dawn.com/news/258040/cornered-militant-blows-himself-up | title=Cornered militant blows himself up | publisher=Dawn (newspaper) | author=Saleem Shahid | author-link=Saleem Shahid | date=25 July 2007 | access-date=3 March 2008 | 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. }}</ref> ''Islam Online'' reports that Baitullah suspected that Abdullah was a double agent.<ref name="IslamOnline20080129"> {{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 |author-link=Aamir Latif |date=29 January 2008 |accessdate=3 March 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080331142629/http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1199280012324&pagename=Zone-English-News%2FNWELayout |archivedate=31 March 2008 }}</ref>

== Post-release ==

=== Return to the battlefield === {{Main|List of released Guantanamo prisoners who allegedly returned to battle}} After his release, Mehsud immediately began rebuilding his Pakistani Taliban (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP) cadre. He commanded a force of up to 5,000 Taliban fighters. He then began initiating attacks on coalition soldiers in Afghanistan.<ref>[http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2007/07/pakistani_taliban_co.php Pakistani Taliban]. July 2007. Long War Journal.</ref>

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.<ref name="Dawn20070430" />

In March 2005, a Department of Defense document claimed:<ref name="DoD2005-03-04"> {{cite news |url = http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2005/d20050304info.pdf |title = JTF -GTMO Information on Detainees |date = 4 March 2005 |publisher = Department of Defense |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20090530060917/http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2005/d20050304info.pdf |archivedate = 30 May 2009 |url-status = dead |df = dmy-all }}</ref> {{blockquote|Mahsud, now reputed to be a militant leader, claimed to be an office clerk and driver for the Taliban from 1996 to 1998 or 1999.<ref name=DoD2005-03-04/> He consistently denied having any affiliation with al Qaida. He also claimed to have received no weapons or military training due to his handicap (an amputation resulting from when he stepped on a land mine 10 years ago). He claimed that after 11 September 2001 he was forcibly conscripted by the Taliban military.}} {{Wikisource|Former GTMO Detainee Terrorism Trends}}

In 2005, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf announced that Mehsud had been killed by ISI forces, only to later retract the statement.<ref name="NYTimes20070725"> {{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/25/world/asia/25pakistan.html | title=Taliban Leader Is Said to Evade Capture by Blowing Himself Up | work=The New York Times | author=Salman Masood | author-link=Salman Masood | date=25 July 2007 | accessdate=24 October 2007 }}</ref>

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'' reported that during a telephone interview in 2004, Abdullah Mehsud promised to never surrender.<ref name="SikhSpectrumFebruary2004"> {{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 = 3 March 2008 |url-status = usurped |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20071015072614/http://www.sikhspectrum.com/022005/mehsud.htm |archivedate = 15 October 2007 |df = dmy-all }}</ref>

=== Claims of returning to terrorism === The Defense Intelligence Agency asserted Abdullah Mahsud had "returned to terrorism".<ref name="Dia20080613"> {{cite news |url=http://www.defenselink.mil/news/d20080613Returntothefightfactsheet.pdf |title=Fact Sheet: Former GTMO Detainee Terrorism Trends |publisher=Defense Intelligence Agency |date=13 June 2008 |accessdate=26 July 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080709112647/http://www.defenselink.mil/news/d20080613Returntothefightfactsheet.pdf |archivedate=9 July 2008 |df=dmy }} </ref> The DIA reported: {{blockquote| 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.}}

== Death == On 24 July 2007, Mehsud was at a house with other militants in Zhob, Balochistan. A team of Pakistani law enforcement agencies conducted a raid on the house where he was staying. Abdullah Mehsud was shot by soldiers. He was holding a grenade in hand intended to kill the soldiers but he fell down due to injuries and blown by grenade During the raid, several other militants were killed, Abdul Rahman Mehsud and Muhammad Azam, were captured along with a local Pakistani Taliban leader.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == * {{cite news|title=WikiLeaks reveals US blunders at Guantanamo|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/world/wikileaks-reveals-us-blunders-at-guantanamo/story-4VKW42YdyJ5vdt8zQ9iZsL.html|via=AFP|date=April 25, 2011|newspaper=Hindustan Times}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehsud, Abdullah}} Category:1977 births Category:2007 deaths Category:Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan members Category:Guantanamo detainees known to have been released Category:Suicides in Pakistan Category:Pashtun people Category:People from South Waziristan Category:Suicides by explosive device Category:2007 suicides Category:Pakistani extrajudicial prisoners of the United States