Maulvi Faqir Mohammed is an Islamist militant and, until March 2012, a deputy leader of the Pakistani Taliban umbrella group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan.
23 Facts About Faqir Mohammed
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Faqir Mohammed was reported as killed on 5 March 2010 during a helicopter gunship attack on militants by the Pakistani military although he denied the reports as false.
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Faqir Mohammed was captured in Afghanistan on 17 February 2013, and released by the Afghan Taliban in 2021.
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Faqir Mohammed has one wife in a tribal society where polygamy is not uncommon.
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Faqir Mohammed was a staunch activist of TNSM, to the extent that he has been considered Sufi Mohammad's confidant and right hand man.
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Faqir Mohammed's house was raided by Pakistani security agencies hunting a "high-value" al-Qaeda target in 2005.
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Faqir Mohammed's house was raided again on 22 January 2006, and three of his relatives were arrested.
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Faqir Mohammed is a wanted man due to suspected contacts with Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.
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Faqir Mohammed has publicly stated that he has close ties to Ayman al-Zawahiri.
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Faqir Mohammed commented on the Chenagai airstrike which occurred in October 2006.
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Faqir Mohammed was warned in January 2006 that failure to surrender to authorities would result in his house being burnt down again.
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Faqir Mohammed is third in command of the Pakistani Taliban umbrella group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, formed in December 2007 under the leadership of Baitullah Mehsud and prefers the title Commander Faqir.
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On 23 February 2009 Faqir Mohammed declared in a 30-minute radio broadcast that his followers would begin a unilateral ceasefire.
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Faqir Mohammed maintained that Baitullah had not been killed but rather was in ill health.
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Faqir Mohammed further elaborated that decisions over leadership of the umbrella group would only be made in consultation and consensus with other TTP leaders.
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Faqir Mohammed reported to the AFP that both Hakimullah Mehsud and Wali-ur-Rehman had approved his appointment as temporary leader of the militant group.
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Two days later Faqir Mohammed retracted his claims of temporary leadership and said that Hakimullah Mehsud had been selected leader of the TTP.
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Pakistan launched an air attack on a building where it was thought that Faqir Mohammed was having a meeting with Taliban figures Fateh Mohammad and Qari Ziaur Rehman.
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Fateh Faqir Mohammed was quickly confirmed as dead but the death of the other two was not known immediately.
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Faqir Mohammed launched attacks on Pakistani border posts from Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province, across the border with Pakistan's Bajaur Agency, and was hosted by Qari Zia-ur-Rahman.
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Faqir Mohammed claimed responsibility for a 4 July 2011, attack on a paramilitary checkpoint and for similar attacks in June 2011 on several border villages in Bajaur.
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On 18 February 2013, Maulvi Faqir Mohammed was arrested along with his four accomplices by Afghan Intelligence Officials while he was trying to enter Pakistan's Tirah Valley from Afghanistan's Nangarhar province.
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Faqir Mohammed was released by the Afghan Taliban in August 2021 when it freed thousands of prisoners as it overran Afghanistan.