BANNU, a town and district of British India, in the Derajat division of the North-west Frontier Province. The town (also called Edwardesabad and Dhulipnagar) lies in the north-west corner of the district, in the valley of the Kurram river. Pop. ; The district of Bannu, which consists only of the Bannu and Marwat tahsils since the constitution of the North-West Frontier Province in 19o', contains an area of I,698sq.m., lying north of the Indus. The cis-Indus portions of Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan now comprise the Punjab district of Mianwali. In addition to the Indus the other streams flowing through the district are the Kurram (which falls into the Indus) and its tributary, the Gambila. The valley of Bannu proper, stretching to the foot of the frontier hills, forms an irregular oval, measuring 6om. from north to south and about 4om. from east to west. In 1931 the population was 270,301, the great majority Mohammedans. The principal tribes inhabiting the district are: (I) Waziri Pathans, recent immigrants from the hills, for the most part peaceable and good cultivators; (2) Marwats, a Pathan race, inhabiting the lower and more sandy portions of the Bannu valley; (3) Bannuchis, a mongrel Afghan tribe of bad physique. After the annexation of the Punjab the valley was administered by Herbert Edwardes so thoroughly that it became a source of strength in stead of weakness during the mutiny, but it is always subject to incursion from the Waziri tribes in the Tochi valley and the neighbouring hills. Salt is quarried on Government account at Kalabagh and alum is largely obtained in the same neighbourhood. The chief export is wheat. A military motor road leads from Bannu town towards Dera Ismail Khan, and another up the Tochi valley and up to the new cantonment of Razmak in Waziristan. The Indus, which is nowhere bridged within the district, is navigable for native boats throughout its course of 76m. The chief frontier tribes on the border are the Waziris, Battannis and Dawaris (see these names). A eft. 6in. railway runs from Kalabagh to Bannu, with a branch through the Pezu pass to Tank.