Thousands of Pakistanis flee tribal belt fearing more air strikes

A senior official in Bannu said over 23,000 refugees and thousands of villagers have fled their homes in Pakistan's North Waziristan region, fearing more air strikes by armed forces, reports Reuters.

The official who pleaded anonymity, said on Tuesday in Bannu that this was after dozens of people had been killed in air strikes targeting Islamist militants earlier this month.

He said fearing another offensive by armed forces, some refugees left the region to take shelter in schools, private homes and veterinary clinics in the normally more peaceful areas of Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan on the edge of the tribal belt.

The officer said people in North Waziristan, a rugged land of rocky mountains and steep valleys that is home to several al Qaeda-linked groups, live in constant fear of being targeted by both the Taliban and government troops.

Another government relief official, who pleaded condition of anonymity said people are moving their families in anticipation of an army operation.

He said there was no operation going on and we as a government body have not been informed about it either, but the people seem to be afraid, trying to flee before there was a state of emergency.

Janaat Bibi, a 90 year old refugee in Bannu, said innocent women and children were hit in the air offensive in North Waziristan.

"We walked on foot for several kilometres at night until the bombing died down, then we got a lift on a tractor and arrived in Bannu."

Najeebullah, who fled with 25 members of his family, said they were forced to leave their house behind by the heavy pounding of the jets.

He said on the way to Bannu they were harassed at several check posts by security officials.

Najeebullah said the government had made no arrangements to provide them with shelter stressing that they would not return unless they are satisfied that there would be no more bombings.

Reuters reports that the government says all those who were killed in the swift Jan. 21 operation were militants, but local residents in the volatile region bordering Afghanistan said the death toll included many civilians.

Pakistani army was not available to comment on the possibility of further operations.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been under intense pressure from hawks within his administration to take aggressive military action against the Taliban after his efforts to engage them in talks floundered in recent months.

The air strikes last week came a day after a Taliban suicide bomber killed 13 people in a crowded market near the capital Islamabad and two days after the Pakistani wing of the Islamist militant group killed 20 troops in the northwest town of Bannu.