PESHAWAR: Thousands of civilians are fleeing the latest military operation against insurgents in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber tribal region, a government official said Sunday.
Pakistan is under intense US pressure to crack down on insurgents along its border with Afghanistan. The US believes militants use Pakistan’s tribal areas as safe havens from which to plan attacks on Western troops across the frontier. Khyber is of particular concern because militants frequently attack trucks along the famed Khyber Pass, a main route for supplies destined for US troops in Afghanistan.
The military destroyed two training centers and 15 militant homes on Sunday, paramilitary troops said. One militant was killed and nine more taken into custody, a written statement from the paramilitary force said, adding that two people kidnapped by militants had also been recovered. The region is largely off-limits to journalists, making it difficult to verify the information independently.
Farooq Khan, a government official in Khyber, said hundreds of families had been fleeing the region since authorities relaxed a curfew on Friday.
“A few thousand, I think,” he told the Associated Press by phone when asked how many civilians have so far fled.
Khan said there were no procedures in place to register the fleeing civilians, making impossible to reach an exact number. He said there were no plans for refugee camps and security forces were “keeping a strict eye” out for any militants trying to blend in.
Three villages in Khyber have been hard hit by the operation. While some families in Malik Din Khel, Sipah and Kambar Khel have left for other villages in the tribal area, most appeared to be leaving Khyber altogether, Khan said.
