Battle of Wanna

Battle of Wanna
	Part of the Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
	; Military Intelligence map: The area involved in the fighting.
Date	March 16 – March 23, 2004 (7 days)
Location	Wanna, South Waziristan, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Pakistan
Result	Pakistani victory Pakistan consolidates grip in the area with the launch of Operation Rah-e-Nijat;
Belligerents
Pakistan Pakistan Army; Pakistan Air Force;	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
Pakistan Army 9th Infantry Division; 4th Cobra Squadron; 20th Mountain Brigade; ; Pakistan Air Force 4–8 F-7 & F-16 jets; ;	Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
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.

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