The Taliban appoint new leader Mullah Fazlullah

Following the death of Hakimullah Mehsd in a drone strike, Pakistan’s Taliban has appointed Mullah Fazlullas as their new leader.

16:52 08 November 2013

On November 1st, Pakistan’s Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud was killed when missiles struck his vehicle in the North Waziristan. Following his death, the group has appointed new leader, Mullah Fazlullah.

The new leader has a notorious past as a hardline commander whose men shot the school girl activist Malala Yousafzal. She was the teenager who had spoken out against the Taliban’s restrictions on girl’s education. After she was shot by Taliban men, she was taken to a UK hospital and now lives in Birmingham with her family.

Between 2008 and 2009, Fazlullah led a brutal campaign enforcing hardline Islamic law, which included burning schools and public floggings and beheadings.

The death of Mehsud has angered the Pakistani government. Interior Minister Chaudry Nisar Ali Khan said that the killing was “not just the killing of one person, it’s the death of all peace efforts.” The new leader has previously rejected peace talks that the government has set up.

Taliban's caretaker leader Asmatullah Shaheen has made the announcement at a news conference at an undisclosed location.