Nek Muhammad Wazir (1975-18 June 2004) was a Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan leader from Pakistan. He was killed in the first CIA drone strike in the country in 2004.
Biography[]
Nek was born to the Ahmadzai Pashtun tribe's Yargul Khai subclan in Kalosha, South Waziristan, Pakistan, in 1975. In 1994 he was recruited at the training camp of Wana into the Taliban group, fighting against the Northern Alliance for control of Afghanistan. He led 3,000 Taliban troops in a fight against Ahmad Shah Massoud in Bagram, Bamyan, and Panjshir, and he met with Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri of Al-Qaeda at the Rash Khor training camp. In 2001, with the fall of Afghanistan to United States, NATO, and Northern Alliance forces, he facilitated the withdrawal of Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and foreign fighter troops to Wana and other Pakistani safehavens. Later, he became a leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan militant group in Pakistan, fighting against the government to establish sharia law in the country.
Death[]
In April 2004, Wazir signed a ceasefire to end the Waziristan War, but war resumed shortly after due to the continued fighting between Taliban and anti-government forces and the government of Pakistan. On 18 June, the United States and Pakistan made an agreement to kill him as a favor by the US to Pakistan, and a US UAV was sent to assassinate him. While he was eating dinner, Wazir was killed in a missile strike that also killed four other rebels. It was the first CIA drone attack in Pakistan; the first of many.