3.2.9. Hafiz Gul Bahadur (HGB)

Table of contents

Hafiz Gul Bahadur (HGB) is a militant umbrella organisation named after its founder412 and current commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur,413 a former leader of the North Waziristan Taliban.414 HGB has a strong presence in the same district415 and has ties with AQ, the Haqqani Network, and TTP.416 While some sources referred to HGB as being affiliated417 or aligned with TTP,418 PICSS emphasised that HGB is an independent group that has distinct command structures and follows its own agenda.419 As it sought to counter the TTP’s rising influence in its own ‘backyard’, the group, mainly rooted in North Waziristan’s Wazir and Dawar tribes, and TTP, dominated by South Waziristan’s Mehsud tribe,420 engaged in intense tribal rivalries during the reference period, competing over resources, authority, and territorial control. During the reference period, the group recruited several TTP commanders and claimed that multiple local faction commanders had joined its coalition.421 At the same time, it lost one of its key commanders to TTP.422 HGB allied with the group Lashkar-e Islam (LeI)423 and is now at the helm of TTP’s emerging rival, Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan (IMP),424 a military alliance425 which includes the groups LeI and Harkat Inqilab-e Islami Pakistan (HIIP).426 Safdar Sial, an expert at PIPS, was quoted as saying that HGB has been perceived as a growing security threat427 as it carried out large numbers of attacks over the reference period, targeting security forces in ambushes, IED attacks and suicide bombings, mainly in North Waziristan. Attacks were claimed by HGB proxy groups.428 While a number of HGB members were killed in counterterrorism operations,429 they did not destroy its operational capabilities. Rumours that emerged in October 2025 of the killing of Hafiz Gul Bahadur remained unverified.430

  • 412

    Valle, R., Jabhat Ansar al-Mahdi Khorasan Emerges as Prominent Faction of Hafiz Gul Bahadur in Pakistan, The Jamestown Foundation, 22 March 2024, url

  • 413

    PICSS, Pakistan's Comprehensive National Security Profile – Annual Report 2025, 7 January 2026, url, p. 26

  • 414

    Sulaiman, S., Hafiz Gul Bahadur: A Profile of the Leader of the North Waziristan Taliban, The Jamestown Foundation, 10 April 2009, url

  • 415

    ACLED, The battle for the borderlands: The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan challenges the state’s control, 6 October 2025, url

  • 416

    Bhattacharya, S., Hafiz Gul Bahadur: Pashtun Militant Fostering Jihadist Factional Unity Along Pakistan’s Durand Line, The Jamestown Foundation, 6 March 2025, url

  • 417

    Arab News, Pakistani, Afghan negotiators hold talks in Doha after fierce clashes, airstrikes, 18 October 2025, url; Rehman, Z., Taliban regime deepens Pakistan's internal security woes, DW, 14 August 2025, url

  • 418

    Bhattacharya, S., Hafiz Gul Bahadur: Pashtun Militant Fostering Jihadist Factional Unity Along Pakistan’s Durand Line, The Jamestown Foundation, 6 March 2025, url

  • 419

    PICSS, Pakistan's Comprehensive National Security Profile – Annual Report 2025, 7 January 2026, url, p. 26

  • 420

    Basit, A., Implications of TTP-Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group Competition for Pakistan’s Internal Security, The Diplomat, 25 February 2025, url

  • 421

    PICSS, Pakistan's Comprehensive National Security Profile – Annual Report 2025, 7 January 2026, url, p. 27

  • 422

    PICSS, Pakistan's Comprehensive National Security Profile – Annual Report 2025, 7 January 2026, url, p. 27; Basit, A., Implications of TTP-Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group Competition for Pakistan’s Internal Security, The Diplomat, 25 February 2025, url

  • 423

    Basit, A., Implications of TTP-Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group Competition for Pakistan’s Internal Security, The Diplomat, 25 February 2025, url

  • 424

    Abbas, M.I., Fractures and Realignments Among Pakistan’s Jihadist Groups, The Diplomat, 30 October 2025, url

  • 425

    PICSS, Emergence of ‘Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan’: A New Militant Alliance Challenges TTP’s Monopoly. Weekly Report 11-17 April, 2025, 18 April 2025, url

  • 426

    Abbas, M.I., Fractures and Realignments Among Pakistan’s Jihadist Groups, The Diplomat, 30 October 2025, url; PICSS, Emergence of ‘Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan’: A New Militant Alliance Challenges TTP’s Monopoly. Weekly Report 11-17 April, 2025, 18 April 2025, url

  • 427

    Rehman, Z., Taliban regime deepens Pakistan's internal security woes, DW, 14 August 2025, url

  • 428

    PICSS, Pakistan's Comprehensive National Security Profile – Annual Report 2025, 7 January 2026, url, p. 27

  • 429

    PICSS, Pakistan's Comprehensive National Security Profile – Annual Report 2025, 7 January 2026, url, pp. 28-29; SATP, Detail of Terrorism Update, 19 October 2025, url

  • 430

    PICSS, Pakistan's Comprehensive National Security Profile – Annual Report 2025, 7 January 2026, url, p. 26; KT, Reports Conflict Over Death of Pakistani Taliban Commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, 23 October 2025, url