at Tarbela Cantonment. It is headed by a major-general and divided into eight battalions. Each battalion.consists of 700 men in four companies, with each company split into platoons and then into 10-man teams. Each battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel.
SSG Pak was raised by amalgamating 17/10th Baluch (19 Baluch) and 312 Garrison Company. Based out of Cherat and Attock, the SSG was created in 1956.That year, 19 Baluch was selected for conversion to a special operation force. As a result of this, the SSG has inherited many of the traditions and insignia of the BalochRegiment. The 19th Baluch Regiment's first commanding officer was Lieutenant Colonel (later Major General) Aboobaker Osman Mitha who commanded it for six years till 1961. The first commander of its Alpha Company was Majo(later Lieutenant Colonel) Gaideen Khan Abdullai Mahsud. Their initial training and orientation as regards tactics was based on the US Special Forces pattern with whom they co-operated closely in the Cold War years. The SSG initially had 6 companies and each company had specialization units,specialized in desert, mountain, ranger, and underwater warfare.[ The desert companies participated in training exercises with US Army Special Forces Mobile Training Team in late 1964. In August 1965, scopeof SSG was raised from a battalion size force to larger Special Operations outfit and instead of 19 Baluch(SSG) they simply adopted the name Special Services Group. The scuba company in Karachi was renowned for its tough physical training. Later on, Chinese training, tactics, weapons, and equipment were also introduced.
Training
Many in the SSG school are selected for additional specialist training. A HALO[citation needed] course is given at Peshawar with a "Skydiver" tab awarded after 25 freefall jumps. A "Mountain Warfare" qualification badgeis given after completing a course at the Pakistan Military Academy kakul,Abbotabad[citation needed]. A "Combat Diver"badge is awarded for the course held by the Naval Special Services Group SSGN at Karachi[citation needed].(Three classes of combat swimmers are recognized: 1st class to those completing an 18-mile swim, 2nd class to those finishing a 15-mile swim, and 3rd class for a 10-mile swim.) Due to the Siachen crisis,a High-Altitude Mountain Warfare School has been established at Khappalu to train the SSG and other Army units for operations on the Siachen Glacier.Other areas of the commando training include internal security, assault and small unit tactics,sniping, demolition, survival, languages, small arms familiarization, Fighting In Built Up Areas (FIBUA), Close Quarter Battle tactics (CQB), Long Range Recce Patrol (LRRP), Martial arts, espionage, psychoanalytic training, and criminal psychology courses
Weapons
Stayer Aug
Barret M82
Operations
In May 1998, three members of the Baloch terrorists took over a PIA
Fokker plane because they were angry at the government for conducting
nuclear tests in Balochistan. As negotiations dragged, SSG commandos
rushed the plane and apprehended all 3 hijackers. None of the passengers
were harmed during the assault.In July 2007, the SSG was the main assault force which re-took the Lal masjid from extremists. The SSG suffered 11 killed and 33 wounded.On September 13, 2007, a suicide bomber killed at least 20 personnel of
the SSG and injured dozens others at the officers mess of the sensitive
cantonment area of Tarbela-Ghazi.
The blast has reported to have been a vendetta attack by the Islamic
fundamentalists who were attacked in the Red Masjid siege in July.According to reliable sources a civilian wearing a white cap with a
long beard walked with his bicycle towards the SSG mess and blew himself
up there
Logo
"I am violent "
Operations
In May 1998, three members of the Baloch terrorists took over a PIA Fokker plane because they were angry at the government for conducting nuclear tests in Balochistan. As negotiations dragged, SSG commandos rushed the plane and apprehended all 3 hijackers. None of the passengers were harmed during the assault.In July 2007, the SSG was the main assault force which re-took the Lal masjid from extremists. The SSG suffered 11 killed and 33 wounded.On September 13, 2007, a suicide bomber killed at least 20 personnel of the SSG and injured dozens others at the officers mess of the sensitive cantonment area of Tarbela-Ghazi. The blast has reported to have been a vendetta attack by the Islamic fundamentalists who were attacked in the Red Masjid siege in July.According to reliable sources a civilian wearing a white cap with a long beard walked with his bicycle towards the SSG mess and blew himself up there
