Tens of thousands of people have fled a remote mountainous region in northwestern Pakistan in recent weeks, residents said, after warnings broadcast from mosques urged families to evacuate ahead of a possible military action against Islamist militants.
Residents of the Tirah Valley, in the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that borders Afghanistan, said they have moved out of the area into nearby towns despite heavy snowfall and cold winter temperatures because of the announcements to avoid the possible fighting.
The announcements were made in the mosque that everyone should leave, so everyone was leaving. We left too, said Gul Afridi, a shopkeeper who fled with his family to the town of Bara located 71km east of the Tirah Valley.
