later it was confirmed that Muhammad was not captured and was in hiding, while two of his aides were captured by the Army. Those two aides, Muhammad Maulana Alam and Ameer Izzat Khan, were killed when militants attacked the prison transport they were in on June 7. On 26 July 2009, the government confirmed the arrest of Sufi Mohammad for encouraging violence and terrorism. Sporadic fighting By this point, the Pakistan Military was in control of much of Swat, however sporadic fighting still continued, especially in the Upper Dir District. After a bomb explosion in Hayagai Sharki village's masjid in Dir, which killed 38 civilians, local tribesmen, between 1,000 and 1,500, formed a lashkar (citizen's militia) and retaliated against the Taliban and TNSM by taking up arms and surrounding almost 300 militants. In support of the Lashkars, the Pakistan Military sent its helicopter gunships to the villages of Shatkas and Ghazi Gai where the heaviest fighting was ongoing. Paramilitary soldiers also set up mortars on high ground above the villages. On June 12, troops captured the town of Chuprial in Swat in a major battle that left 39 militants and 10 soldiers dead. This was the last major battle, and one of the most bloody, of the operation. On June 14, the operation ended with Pakistani troops consolidating their positions in the four districts and going after the remaining pockets of resistance, primarily in the Swat valley. Casualties In all, according to the military, 50 soldiers and at least 1,475 militants were killed and 100 soldiers were wounded during operation Black Thunderstorm. 114 militants were captured, including some local commanders. Later revelations about the Swat deal On May 13, 2009, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani revealed on The Daily Show to Jon Stewart that Pakistan's decision to strike a peace deal with Taliban militants earlier, which effectively ceded control of large swathes of the country's northwest, was all part of a cunning plan to fool the Taliban, which is now coming to fruition with the commencement of Operation Black Thunderstorm. The ambassador mentioned to Jon Stewart that President Asif Ali Zardari's signing of the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, which was the Swat peace deal, was nothing more than a trick to lure the Taliban from the mountains and countryside to the main towns where it would be much easier for the Pakistani military to kill or capture them. "[President