The Utman Khel or Utmankhel are a Pashtun

Pashtun people

Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

 tribe who occupy the hills to the north of Peshawar

Peshawar

Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....

 in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. Their land lies between the Mohmand

Mohmand

The Mohmand are a clan of Sarban Pashtuns, living primarily in the FATA & Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan & northeastern Afghanistan.- Demographics :...

s and the Ranizais of Swat

Swat (Pakistan)

Swat is a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, located close to the Afghan-Pakistan border. It is the upper valley of the Swat River, which rises in the Hindu Kush range. The capital of Swat is Saidu Sharif, but the main town in the Swat valley is Mingora...

, to the west and south-west of the junction of the Swat

Swat River

The Swat River is a river in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. Its source is in the Hindukush Mountains, from where it flows through the Kalam Valley and Swat District...

 and Panjkora

Panjkora River

The Panjkora River is a river in northern Pakistan. It rises rises high in the Hindu Kush at lat. 35.45, flows south through Upper Dir and Lower Dir Districts and joins the Swat River near Chakdara, Malakand, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Its name is derived from the Persian for 'panj' and 'kora' ....

 rivers. They claim to be descendants of Baba Utman Shamraiz, who accompanied Mahmud of Ghazni

Mahmud of Ghazni

Mahmud of Ghazni , actually ', was the most prominent ruler of the Ghaznavid dynasty who ruled from 997 until his death in 1030 in the eastern Iranian lands. Mahmud turned the former provincial city of Ghazni into the wealthy capital of an extensive empire which covered most of today's Iran,...

 in his expedition into India in 997

997

Year 997 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* First documented reference to the City of Gdańsk....

. The Utman Khel are a tall, stout and fair race, but their dress and general customs have been assimilated by the neighbouring peoples of Bajour. Their land is very hilly and difficult, but well cultivated in terraces.

The British

British Raj

British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...

 conducted military campaigns against them in 1852, 1878, and 1898.