Event
2010 Pakistani military operation
The Orakzai and Kurram offensive, also known as Operation Khwakh Ba De Sham (Pashto: خوښ به دې شم; transl. I will teach you a lesson) was a Pakistani military operation against the Tehrik-i-Taliban in the Orakzai and Kurram agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan that began on 23 March 2010. It was part of the War in North-West Pakistan.
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Text from the Wikipedia article “Orakzai and Kurram offensive”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The Orakzai and Kurram offensive, also known as Operation Khwakh Ba De Sham (Pashto: خوښ به دې شم; transl. I will teach you a lesson) was a Pakistani military operation against the Tehrik-i-Taliban in the Orakzai and Kurram agencies of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan that began on 23 March 2010. It was part of the War in North-West Pakistan.
On 23 March 2010, the Pakistani Army launched a military operation to clear Taliban insurgents from Orakzai Agency. Pakistani general Tariq Khan stated:
This will finish in a couple of months. We'll take care of all of them. We're just waiting for the major operations—like Orakzai and North Waziristan—to finish, to spare us the troops to start changing our methodology. Instead of kinetic, concentrated operations, we start search and cordon and sting operations, for which actually you need more boots on the ground.
On 1 April security forces claimed to have taken complete control of the Lower Orakzai Agency. On 12 April security forces claimed to have extended their control over more areas of Orakzai Agency and were advancing to Upper Orakzai Agency. Militants began fleeing to parts of Tirah Valley, which borders Khyber Agency.
Operations in Lower Orakzai ended with seven thousand troops seizing control of the area on 5 May. With government-provided transport and security, five thousand Pakistani refugee families returned to their homes. About 400 militants were killed in Lower Orakzai; soldiers continued fighting in Central Orakzai.
Between 10 and 19 May, clashes were ongoing in Orakzai. Over these days, a total of 118 insurgents and 11 soldiers were killed.
10 May – At least 9 soldiers and about 30 insurgents were killed in clashes in Orakzai. Military officials described the battle between the insurgents and the army as "fierce" and said that two officers were among the dead.
16 May – "Fighter jets and helicopter gunships attacked militant sanctuaries in the villages of Dabori, Gojar and Kamer Mela in Orakzai, killing 40 suspected insurgents", said Samiullah Khan, a senior government administrator in Orakzai. "Troops attacked militant hide-outs in Koul village, triggering clashes that killed 18 suspected insurgents. Five soldiers and at least 25 militants were wounded in the fighting. The injured militants were taken into custody", said Jehanzeb Khan, a local administrator. By 17 May the total number of dead militants reached 60.
19 May – Another military clash between Pakistani troops and the Taliban killed 28 insurgents and wounded 21. Also killed in the fighting were two Pakistani soldiers.
On 1 June, the Pakistan Army declared an end to military offensive in Orakzai after announcing it has fully cleared Orakzai of Taliban. However, locals claimed that while Lower Orakzai was cleared, the situation in Central and Upper Orakzai had not changed much. Pakistani authorities reported they were preparing for a full-scale military offensive in North Waziristan, targeting Taliban leadership and al-Qaeda.
According to the Pakistani Army on 3 June, Taliban insurgents had also been cleared from the neighbouring Kurram Agency.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Orakzai and Kurram offensive”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.