Thousands flee Khyber operation

PESHAWAR: Thousands of civilians are fleeing the latest military operation against insurgents of banned militants group Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) in Khyber Agency, a government official said Sunday.
The military destroyed two training centres and 15 militant homes of LI militants on Sunday, paramilitary troops said. One militant was killed and nine more taken into custody, a written statement from the Frontier Corps 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.
He 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. Most of those families were heading to Peshawar.
There have been several army operations in past in the Khyber region that have always concluded with announcements by authorities that the area was cleared of all militants.
The Taliban-affiliated group Lashkar-e-Islam has been a main target of the latest offensive, which authorities say has killed about 90 alleged militants.