page_title: Operation Black Thunderstorm
section_title: Operation Rah-e-Rast
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Black Thunderstorm / Operation / Operation Rah-e-Rast
caption_attribution_description: English: Paratroopers fly through the air after jumping from the tailgate of a C-130 Hercules airplane on Fort Bragg, N.C., June 11. The tailgate jump was part of the XVIII Airborne Corps Commanding General’s Retention Incentive Jump. “This is the best job in the world,” said Staff Sgt. Timothy W. Jeffrey, a career counselor with the 82nd Airborne Division, Headquarts Company. “We get paid to jump out of planes.”
context_page_description: Operation Black Thunderstorm was an aggressive 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.
context_section_description: On May 5, the third phase of the operation started as airborne troops boarded on C-130 transport aircraft, jumped off and stormed the militant-held valley of Swat. The name of this sub-operation of Black Thunderstorm has been referred to as Operation Rah-e-Rast in Urdu . In more than a month of fighting, by June 15, 30 soldiers and 1,040 militants were killed. Militant fighters were holed up in the emerald mines and in the main town of Swat district, Mingora. The emerald mines were secured by the Army's 50th Airborne division by May 7, but the militants were still holding their positions in Mingora and on a strategic hilltop overlooking the town. Meanwhile, on May 7, in Lower Dir, which was previously declared clear of the Taliban by the military, militants overran a paramilitary fort, killing three paramilitary soldiers and capturing 10 policemen. On the midnight of May 10, additional airborne troops with small teams of Pakistan Navy SEALs jumped off from C-130 transport aircraft, and attacked a Taliban hidden training camp at Banai Baba in Shangla district, which is just east from Swat. In the fighting at Banai Baba the military reported killing 150 militants for the loss of two soldiers. At the same time as the fighting in Shangla, some sporadic fighting was still continuing in Lower Dir where, over four days, 109 more militants were killed. Also, further west, in the Mohmand agency, a group of 300 militants attacked a military outpost; in the fighting that ensued 26 militants were killed and 14 soldiers were wounded. On May 12, Pakistani SSG commandos were inserted by helicopters into the Piochar area, a rear-support base for the militants in the northern part of the Swat valley, to conduct search-and-destroy operations.
  By May 15, the Army claimed that Buner was finally completely cleared of Taliban forces, however artillery bombardment of Taliban positions in the hills was still ongoing. And it was reported that the Taliban were more dug in and in larger numbers in Buner than the military previously assumed. Meanwhile, the Pakistani military continued with their push up the Swat valley. As the military approached Mingora, the Taliban were digging in for a "bloody urban battle" against the Pakistani army's airborne forces in a hotly disputed city in the north-western part of the country. The Taliban began concentrating forces in Mingora - digging trenches, laying mines and taking positions on rooftops.
  Stratfor, a private firm that describes itself as a global intelligence company, mentioned that it is not clear if the Pakistani military is trained and even equipped to go into a situation like that, adding that even the United States military "would have to think twice" about such an offensive. Pakistani military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas, who is the spokesman for Pakistan's military said "the military intends to drive the Taliban out of the contested area, even if the kind of fighting resembles that of the Battle of Stalingrad". He said that the whole resolve of the government and the military is to once and for all finish the Taliban from the Swat valley. The army has about 15,000 troops on the ground and is estimated that there are still over 5,000 Taliban fighters in the area.
  On May 17, heavy street fighting started in the towns of Kanju and Matta and the Army was slowly advancing towards Mingora. Also, a few days later fighting started in the area of the Takhtaband bridge for control of this crossing point. On May 20, a key town in Buner was captured by the Army. The Army captured Sultanwas in fighting which, according to the military, killed one soldier and 80 militants, another nine soldiers were wounded. By May 23, Kanju, Matta and the Takhtaband bridge had been secured by the military, but fighting was still going on in Takhtaband itself and the Buner and Dir districts, where nine more militants were killed. Meanwhile, the military was surrounding the main militant base in the Peochar Valley.
caption: Airborne paratroopers took active participation in the war and pushed Taliban back to areas adjacent to Afghanistan.
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