DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – Tens of thousands of people have fled Pakistan's lawless tribal region ahead of an expected army offensive, officials said Wednesday, as fighter jets pounded Taliban positions.
Source: AFP
- The government in June ordered an operation into the mountainous northwest stronghold of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, but so far only air raids and occasional artillery strikes have hit rebel sanctuaries.
- However, a wave of Taliban attacks in Pakistan killing 125 people since last Monday has stoked fears that the long-awaited ground offensive is looming, sending more people fleeing to neighbouring districts.
- An AFP reporter in Dera Ismail Khan on Wednesday saw dozens of families entering the city in cars and trucks, packed full of belongings the panicked residents had managed to gather before fleeing.
- "Again people have started coming out of the area because of the fear of an army operation," Amir Latif, chief administrative official in Tank district, told AFP.
- Most people were flocking to relatives' homes or were renting houses, while officials said the government planned to establish one refugee camp in Dera Ismail Khan and another in Tank.
- An anti-Taliban offensive in and around northwest Swat valley earlier this year forced nearly two million people from their homes, creating a massive humanitarian crisis in the impoverished country.
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