Operation Black Thunderstorm

Operation Black Thunderstorm
	Part of the Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
	; Pakistani forces hoist the flag of Pakistan at the highest point of the Valley after the operation
Date	26 April 2009 – 14 June 2009 ; (1 month, 2 weeks and 5 days)
Location	Swat, Buner, Lower Dir, Shangla District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province
Result	Pakistani victory Districts returned to government control, writ of the state established; Many Pakistani Taliban militants and commanders killed or captured, remaining fled to Afghanistan;
Belligerents
Pakistan	TTP; TNSM
Commanders and leaders
Asif Ali Zardari; (President); Tariq Majid; (Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff); Ashfaq Pervez Kayani; (Chief of Army Staff); Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed; (Chief of Air Staff) Operation commanders Masood Aslam; Hifazat Khan; Ijaz Awan; Haroon Aslam; Sajjad Ghani; Tariq Khan	Maulana Fazlullah ; Sufi Muhammad (POW) ; Maulana Ameer Izzat (POW) †; Syed Wahab (POW); Maulana Muhammad Alam (POW) †
Units involved
Pakistan Armed Forces Pakistan Army 9th Infantry Division; 50th Airborne Division; SSG Division; ; Pakistan Air Force No. 25 Squadron; ; Pakistan Navy COMNOR; Pakistan Marines; ; Civil Armed Forces Frontier Corps; Punjab Rangers; ; Pro-government tribes	TTP; TNSM
Strength
30,000 – 45,000 Regular and Airborne Forces; 500+ SSG Division	5,000
Casualties and losses
50 killed ; 100 wounded	1,475 killed (23 foreign militants); 114 captured
	3.4 million civilians displaced

Operation Black Thunderstorm was a military operation that commenced on 26 April 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.