Battle of Wanna

Battle of Wanna
Part of the Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Military Intelligence map: The area involved in the fighting.
DateMarch 16 March 23, 2004 (7 days)
Location
Result Pakistani victory
Belligerents
Pakistan al-Qaeda
Pakistani Taliban
Commanders and leaders
Lt.Gen Ali Jan Aurakzai

Ayman al-Zawahiri

Osama bin Laden
Tohir Yuldoshev (WIA)
Nek Muhammad 
Noor Wali Mehsud
Units involved
al-Qaeda and TTP Mujahedeen forces
Strength
~7,000
~50 members of ISI CAD
400 Al-Qaeda fighters
Casualties and losses
17 soldiers killed,
11 soldiers captured,
33 soldiers wounded
55 Al-Qaida fighters killed,
150 fighters captured

The Battle of Wanna was a March 2004 military engagement between the Pakistan Army and members of Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda at Azam Warsak, near the South Waziristan town of Wanna. The army troops and intelligence paramilitary soldiers faced an estimated ~500 al-Qaeda foreign fighters holed up in several fortified settlements. The fighting ended with 17 soldiers dead.

It was speculated at the time that Osama bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri was among those trapped by the Pakistan Army, but he either escaped or was never among these fighters. After weeks of fighting, the ISPR admitted that it was actually Tohir Yoldeshev, leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, who was hiding there.