Second Battle of Swat

Last updated
Second Battle of Swat (Operation Rah-e-Rast)
Part of the Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Pakistan - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa - Swat.svg
Swat is the red colored region
Date16 May – 15 July 2009
(1 month, 4 weeks and 1 day)
Location
Swat Valley, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province
Result

Pakistani victory [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Belligerents

Flag of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan

Flag of Tehrik-i-Taliban.svg TTP

Flag of al-Qaeda.svg Al-Qaeda
Flag of Jihad.svg Lashkar-e-Islam
Commanders and leaders
Air Force Ensign of Pakistan.svg ACM Rao Suleman
Flag of the Pakistani Army.svg LTG Masood Aslam
Air Force Ensign of Pakistan.svg AM Hifazat Khan
Flag of the Pakistani Army.svg LTG Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmad
Flag of the Pakistani Army.svg MGen. Haroon Aslam
Flag of the Pakistani Army.svg MG Sajjad Ghani
Flag of the Pakistani Army.svg BRIG Muhammad Habib Ur Rehman		Flag of Tehrik-i-Taliban.svg Maulana Fazlullah
Tnsm-flag.svg Abu Saeed  †
Tnsm-flag.svg Misbah ud-Din  †
Tnsm-flag.svg Sultan Khan  † [8]
Tnsm-flag.svg Shah Dauran   † [9]
Tnsm-flag.svg Maulana Shahid   †
Tnsm-flag.svg Qari Quraish  †
Tnsm-flag.svg Naseeb Rehman  †
Tnsm-flag.svg Muslim Khan  (POW)
Tnsm-flag.svg Sher Muhammad Qusab  (POW)  † [10]
Tnsm-flag.svg Abu Faraj  † [11]
Tnsm-flag.svg Nisar Ahmed  † [12]
Units involved

Flag of the Pakistani Army.svg  Pakistan Army

Air Force Ensign of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan Air Force

Flag of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.svg FCKP(N)

Flag of Swat.svg Local tribesmen

Flag of Tehrik-i-Taliban.svg TTP

Flag of al-Qaeda.svg Al-Qaeda
Flag of Jihad.svg Lashkar-e-Islam
Strength
15,000–45,000 Regular Infantry, Frontier Corps and Airborne Forces 2,500 (approx.)
Casualties and losses
168 killed, 454 wounded [13] 2,088 killed [13] [14] [15]
2 million civilians displaced [16]

The Second Battle of Swat also known as Operation Rah-e-Rast, was Sub-Operation of OperationBlack Thunderstorm, began in May 2009 and involved the Pakistan Army and Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan militants in a fight for control of the Swat district of Pakistan. The first Battle of Swat had ended with a peace agreement, that the government had signed with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in February 2009. [17]

Contents

However, by late April 2009 TTP violated majority of the terms of the agreement, resultantly, government troops and the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan began to clash once again, and in April the government launched a military offensive code-named Operation Black Thunderstorm throughout the Northern parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (then North-Western Frontier Province) including districts Swat, Buner, Dir, Shangla.

Swat then being a strongest hold of TTP required specific campaign and efforts by the Pakistani Armed Forces to free it from clutches of TTP once for all. This campaign which itself was part of larger military Operation Black Thunderstorm, came to be known as "Operation Rah-e-Rast", whereby Pakistan Armed Forces successfully flushed out Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan from Swat. [18]

Context

The conflict between the Pakistani Army and Islamist insurgents is accepted to have begun on 16 March 2004 in the Battle of Wanna. Over the next number of years, different peace agreements were signed, despite the persistence of militant groups in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The groups' support came primarily from Pashtun tribal elements.

In 2007, the conflict was renewed after the attack on Lal Masjid in Islamabad. After the attack, confrontations and suicide attacks saw an uptick. On 21 August 2008, an attack on military production facilities in Wah left 70 dead and, on 20 September of that year, the Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing left 54 dead. On the 27th of October, the Pakistani government reacted with the First Battle of Swat to retake the valley from occupying militias, the Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Battle for Mingora City

Fighting commenced in the largest and main city of the district, Mingora, between elite Pakistani commandos and about 300 Taliban militants positioned in deserted buildings and continued until 23 May 2009, when a major Pakistani offensive retook much of the city. Amid heavy street fighting, the Pakistani Army captured large parts of the city, including several key intersections and squares. [19]

On 24 May, the Pakistani Army announced it had retaken large parts of Mingora. Major-General Athar Abbas, the Army's chief military spokesman, announced that "we want to eliminate the entire [Taliban] leadership". [20] Pakistani soldiers continued to engage the Taliban in street fighting and search buildings for Taliban fighters. Pakistani troops also retook several nearby towns previously under Taliban control.

On 30 May, the Pakistani military announced that it had regained control of all of Mingora, though small pockets of resistance still remained in the city's outskirts. [21] Fighting between Pakistani forces and Taliban militants continued in other areas. The Pakistani army claimed the death toll to be 1,200 Taliban fighters and 90 Pakistani soldiers. [22]

There were believed to be 200,000 people in Mingora as recently as a week prior to the eruption of hostilities. Following the lifting of a curfew, as of 23 May a large exodus left what was believed to be only 10,000–20,000 civilians in the town. [23]

Expansion of operation

After retaking the town of Mingora the military moved on to Malam Jabba and Qamabr Bazar taking those towns and killing the TNSM leaders of those towns. On May 29, the Army cleared Aman Kot and the Technical Institute College on the Mingora-Kokarai road in Mingora. On the same day, the village of Peochar in the Peochar Valley, as well as the town of Bahrain in the north of Swat, had been taken by the military. Sporadic fighting went on in the rest of Swat and in the Shangla district.

Capture of Taliban commanders

Pakistani soldier checking a militant hideout in swat Pakistan military in Swat - Flickr - Al Jazeera English.jpg
Pakistani soldier checking a militant hideout in swat

On June 4, 2009, it was reported that Sufi Muhammad, the founder of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi or TNSM, was arrested in Amandarra along with other militant leaders. [24] In the coming days there was confusion over this claim since the Taliban themselves said that Muhammad was missing. However, several days later it was confirmed that Sufi Muhammad was not captured and was in hiding, while two of his aides were captured by the Army. Those two aides, Muhammad Maulana Alam and Ameer Izzat Khan, were killed when militants attacked the prison transport they were in on June 7.

On June 6, the Taliban attacked Gul Jabba Checkpoint. This attack was repulsed, but cost the life of Captain Fiaz Ahmad Ghunian of the 72nd Punjab Regiment Pakistan Army.

On June 12, in response to a bomb explosion at a mosque that killed 38 civilians, local Pakistani militia numbering between 1,000 and 1,500 surrounded almost 300 militants. [25] The Pakistani army sent Helicopter Gunships to provide air support to militia fighting in the villages of Shatkas and Ghazi Gai, where the fiercest fighting took place. Pakistani paramilitaries also set up mortar positions on the high ground overlooking the villages. 20 homes suspected of housing Taliban fighters were destroyed. 11 Taliban militants were killed in the fighting. On June 12, the Pakistani army captured the town of Chuprial in a fierce battle. 39 Taliban fighters and 10 Pakistani soldiers were killed. On June 14, Pakistani soldiers began to clear the last pockets of resistance. On July 15, clashes throughout the Swat valley left 11 Taliban militants and 1 Pakistani soldier dead, with the heaviest fighting taking place in the town of Kabal. The refugees that had fled their homes also began to return on July 15.

Final assault

On September 11, 2009, the Pakistan Army announced that Muslim Khan and four other senior TNSM commanders were captured near Mingora. [26] [27] Maulana Fazlullah was actually hit in two air strikes and was critically wounded and stranded for some time in Imam Dehri without any access to medical assistance. [28]

Success of operations

By August 22, 2009, 1.6 million of 2.2 million refugees returned home, as per UN estimates. [29] On January 11, 2010, Hayatullah Hamyo one of the TTP commanders in Swat was captured in Orangi Town in Karachi where he was keeping a low profile by working for PTCL (Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd). [30]

See also

Related Research Articles

Maulvi Faqir Mohammed is an Islamist militant and, until March 2012, a deputy leader of the Pakistani Taliban umbrella group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. He 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. In July 2011, he resurfaced on the air broadcasting radio shows out of Afghanistan. He was captured in Afghanistan on 17 February 2013, and released by the Afghan Taliban in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa</span> Armed conflict involving Pakistan and armed militant groups

The insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, also known as the War in North-West Pakistan or Pakistan's war on terror, is an ongoing armed conflict involving Pakistan and Islamist militant groups such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Jundallah, Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI), TNSM, al-Qaeda, and their Central Asian allies such as the ISIL–Khorasan (ISIL), Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, East Turkistan Movement, Emirate of Caucasus, and elements of organized crime. Formerly a war, it is now a low-level insurgency as of 2017.

Fazal Hayat, more commonly known by his pseudonym Mullah Fazlullah, was an Islamist jihadist militant who was the leader of the Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi, and was the leader of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in Swat Valley. He became the emir of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan in 2013, and presided over the descent of the group into factions who are often at war with each other. Fazlullah was designated by the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee of the Security Council in 2015, and was added to the U.S. State Department's Rewards for Justice wanted list on 7 March 2018.

Muhammad Masood AslamHI (C) HI (M) SJ Imtiazi Sanad AFWC PSC is a retired three-star general who served in the Pakistan Army for 39 years. His last post in the Army was serving as the commander of the XI Corps, fighting TTP forces in the North-West Pakistan region from 2007 to 2010. He also held the post of Colonel commandant of the Punjab Regiment from March 2008 to April 2010. Masood played a key role in the management of crucial operations against the Tehrik-i-Taliban, including directing and commanding the First Battle of Swat, operations Zalzala, Sherdil, Rah-e-Rast and Rah-e-Nijat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lashkar-e-Islam</span> Islamist terrorist organization in Pakistan

Lashkar-e-Islam, also written as Laskhar-i-Islam, is a Deobandi jihadist terrorist group operating in Khyber District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan and the neighboring Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Bajaur</span> Pakistani military operation

The Battle of Bajaur, also known as Operation Sherdil, was a military campaign in the Bajaur region of Pakistan. It was conducted on 7 August 2008 by the Frontier Corps and Infantry Brigade of Pakistan army. The operation was primarily launched to end the political movement of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. Bajaur area was administered by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan until 2007, and it remained Al-Qaeda's central command and control for carrying out activities in Northeast Afghanistan and Kunar province. Recent reports indicate that ongoing conflict has newly displaced an estimate of 7,000 people between 3 and 4 March in Nurgal district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pakistani Taliban</span> Islamist militant organization operating along the Durand Line

The Pakistani Taliban, formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan, is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani border. Formed in 2007 by Baitullah Mehsud, its current leader is Noor Wali Mehsud, who has publicly pledged allegiance to the Afghan Taliban. The Pakistani Taliban share a common ideology with the Afghan Taliban and have assisted them in the 2001–2021 war, but the two groups have separate operation and command structures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi</span> Islamist militant group founded in 1992

Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi is an Islamic extremist militant group. The group swore an oath of loyalty to Pakistani Taliban and become the part of it in 2007 aftermath the siege of Lal Masjid. The group's stated objective is to overthrow the Pakistani government and enforce Sharia law in Pakistan.

The Nizam-e-Adl Regulation was a controversial act, passed on April 13, 2009 by Government of Pakistan that formally established Sharia law in the Malakand division. PPP-led central government passed the bill after a coalition partner ANP government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa negotiated the peace deal with outlawed Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Black Thunderstorm</span> Military operation conducted by Pakistan against militants

Operation Black Thunderstorm was a military operation that commenced on April 26, 2009, conducted by the Pakistan Army, with the aim of retaking Buner, Lower Dir, Swat and Shangla districts from the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan after the militants took control of them since the start of the year.

The First Battle of Swat, also known as Operation Rah-e-Haq, was fought between Pakistan and the Tehrik-i-Taliban in late 2007 over control of the Swat District of Pakistan.

Muslim Khan is a captured Pakistani militant and former spokesman for the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan chapter based in Swat and became the chief spokesman of the Swat Taliban in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Rah-e-Nijat</span> 2009 military offensive by the Pakistan Armed Forces against the Tehrik-i-Taliban

The Operation Rah-e-Nijat was a strategic offensive military operation by the unified command of Pakistan Armed Forces against the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and their extremist allies in the South Waziristan area of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas that began on June 19, 2009; a major ground-air offensive was subsequently launched on October 17. It became the integral part of the war in Western fronts which led to the encirclement and destruction of Taliban forces in the region, although the Taliban leadership escaped to lawless areas of neighboring Afghanistan.

Turkistan Bhittani or Turkestan Bettani was the militant leader of a pro-government Taliban faction based in the town of Tank in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. He is notable for his opposition to the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Turkistan belongs to Bettani tribe.

The Operation Zalzala, was a Pakistan Army military offensive manhunt and a counter-insurgent operation that was commenced on 18 January 2008. The operation concluded with mixed results as the army had successfully captured the area, but had failed to capture or kill Qari Hussain, the main objective of the operation.

In 2008, Pakistan saw 40 terrorist attacks, which caused 154 fatalities and 256 injuries.

Sabawoon Rehabilitation Centre is a rehabilitation institute in Mingora, Swat, Pakistan. Sabawoon in Pashto means Morning Light. The centre, run and established by Pakistan Army with the help of the Hum Pakistani Foundation and UNICEF, was inaugurated in 2009 by General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. Initially 22 former militants were inducted into the institute in September 2009.

Events in the year 2014 in Pakistan.

Operation Azm-e-Istehkam is a counter-insurgency operation launched by the government of Pakistan in June 2024. The operation was approved by prime minister Shehbaz Sharif. The operation will include not only military action, but also socio-economic uplift to deter extremism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group</span> Faction of the Taliban in Pakistan

Hafiz Gul Bahadur group or HGB is a faction of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) based in North Waziristan and surrounding districts of the former FATA region in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The group is led by tribal leader Hafiz Gul Bahadur, who is affiliated with the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network. Though the group had previously directed most of its attacks against the Afghan government and NATO forces during the war in Afghanistan, it has since targeted the Pakistani government after the fall of Kabul in 2021. Militants affiliated with HGB have been linked to several high-profile attacks on Pakistani security forces in the ongoing insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

References

  1. ↑ Khan, I. (2010). The Second Battle of Swat: The fall of a Pakistani Taliban stronghold. Journal of Defence Studies, 4(1), 101-118. doi:10.1080/09700161.2010.484778
  2. ↑ Abbas, H. (2014). The Taliban insurgency in Pakistan: Operation Rah-e-Rast. Small Wars & Insurgencies, 25(3), 512-537. doi:10.1080/09592318.2014.913539
  3. ↑ Fair, C. C. (2011). The Militant Challenge in Pakistan. Asia Policy, 11(1), 105–137. doi:10.1353/asp.2011.0010
  4. ↑ Rana, M. A. (2009). Taliban insurgency in Pakistan: A counterinsurgency perspective. Pak Institute for Peace Studies.
  5. ↑ Khan, I. (2011). Backgrounder: Pakistan's Waziristan Offensive. Center for International Security and Cooperation, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
  6. ↑ Asthana, N. C. (2009). Talibanisation of Pakistan's Western Frontiers. Indian Defence Review, 24(3).
  7. ↑ Haqqani, H. (2010). The Ideologies of South Asian Jihadi Groups. Current Trends in Islamist Ideology, 9, 19-26.
  8. ↑ "Daily Express Urdu Newspaper | Latest Pakistan News | Breaking News".
  9. ↑ Rezaul H Laskar, Islamabad (June 25, 2009). "Kayani Visits S Waziristan: Fazlullah's Deputy Killed in Swat". Outlook India. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2009.
  10. ↑ "The Associated Press: Captured Pakistan Taliban commander dies in jail". Google News . Archived from the original on October 1, 2009.
  11. ↑ Bill Roggio (December 5, 2009). "Captured Taliban commander killed in combat in Swat". Threat Matrix (Blog).
  12. ↑ "VOA News - Pakistan Army: Taliban Commander Killed in Swat". www.voanews.com. Archived from the original on October 13, 2009.
  13. 1 2 table of casualties at end of this page. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-02-15. Retrieved 2009-11-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. ↑ Ghulam Farooq (September 2, 2009). "105 Taliban surrender, 15 killed in Swat clashes". Daily Times (Pakistan).
  15. ↑ "More Pakistani Taliban surrender - TTP Swat chief with 60 militants surrender". Caymanmama.com - Pakistan News News. 2009-08-22.
  16. ↑ http://www.ansa.it/ansalatina/notizie/rubriche/mundo/20090622183634901774.html [ dead link ]
  17. ↑ Zahid Hussain in Islamabad (May 5, 2009). "Pakistan troops clash with Taleban as Swat Valley truce breaks down". The Times. London. Archived from the original on May 17, 2009.
  18. ↑ Isambard Wilkinson (in Islamabad) (24 May 2009). "Pakistani troops gain upper hand in key Swat town". Daily Telegraph (London).
  19. ↑ "Army holds key parts of Mingora as battle for Swat valley continues". France24.com. 2009-05-25. Archived from the original on 2009-06-12.
  20. ↑ Hussain, Zahid (May 25, 2009). "Pakistani troops retake part of Mingora after battle with Taleban". The Times. London.[ dead link ]
  21. ↑ "Pakistan military retakes town in Swat Valley". 30 May 2009. Archived from the original on June 14, 2009.
  22. ↑ https://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090530/wl_afp/pakistanunrestnorthwestmingora [ dead link ]
  23. ↑ Pakistan army battles Taliban in Swat’s main city (subscription required)
  24. ↑ "Banned NSM confirms Maulana Sufi's arrest". GEO Pakistan. June 4, 2009. Archived from the original on October 26, 2014.
  25. ↑ "Pakistan Tribesmen battle Taliban". BBC. 8 June 2009.
  26. ↑ "TTS spokesman Muslim Khan, 4 others captured". The Nation (Pakistan). September 11, 2009. Archived from the original on September 15, 2009. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
  27. ↑ Ismail Khan (12 Sep 2009). "Swat Taliban mouthpiece, top commander captured". Dawn Media Group.
  28. ↑ Syed Shoaib Hasan (10 July 2009). "Swat Taliban chief 'near death'". BBC.
  29. ↑ "1.6 million Pakistani refugees return home: UN". The Times of India . August 22, 2009. Archived from the original on October 24, 2012.
  30. ↑ "Taliban commander nabbed from Karachi". Dawn Media Group. 11 Jan 2010.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.