 Up to 30,000 soldiers were involved in the operation.It had been described as a "comprehensive operation" that aimed to flush out foreign and local militants hiding in North Waziristan.By 2014, casualty rates in the country as a whole dropped by 40% as compared to 2011–13, with even greater drops noted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, despite the province being the site of a large massacre of school children by Tehrik-i-Taliban terrorists in December 2014.