In Pictures

Gallery|Humanitarian Crises

In Pictures: Pakistan’s offensive continues

A month of military operation in Northern Waziristan has devastated homes and markets, displacing tens of thousands.

A local tribesman displays a fragment of a missile as he inspects a house allegedly belonging to suspected rebels after it was bombed by Pakistani fighter jets in North Waziristan.
Published On 15 Jul 2014

Exactly a month ago, the Pakistani military launched an air offensive against Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), or the Pakistani Taliban, in North Waziristan in response to a Taliban assault on the country’s busiest airport in the southern city of Karachi.

The weeks-long air and ground operation, named Zarb-e-Azb (sharp and cutting strike), has caused the exodus of tens of thousands of people, with some fleeing into neighbouring Afghanistan.

Officials have told Al Jazeera that at least 787,888 men, women, and children have been registered as Internally Displaced Person (IDPs), but activists fear their number may be higher.

Miranshah, the regional capital, is nearly deserted, as most people have fled to Bannu in neighbouring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to escape the bombing.

The UN says those in the Bannu camp face extreme conditions owing to shortages of potable water, sanitation facilities, and health care, all of which are heightening the risk of communicable disease outbreaks.

 

A Pakistan soldier surveys a house in Miranshah destroyed during the military operation. The Pakistani military said it had seized control of 80 percent of Miranshah.
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A Pakistani soldier stands next to ammunition seized from Taliban forces.
A black flag, handcuffs and chains are displayed in a house that was used by the Taliban as a prison in Miranshah.
People enter the city of Bannu atop a vehicle brimming with their belongings.
Children eat their meal at a relief camp in Bannu.
A man is carried away after fainting in the queue at a food distribution point in Bannu.
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People line up to receive food supplies from the army in Bannu.
A displaced Pakistani child plays outside his tent in a relief camp in Khost province in Afghanistan. The fighting has driven more than 100,000 Pakistanis into Afghanistan.
People wait to receive rations and winter supplies in Bannu.
Children and their families displaced by the military offensive take shelter in a government school building in Bannu.
People receive rations and winter supplies in Bannu.
Bread being made at the relief camp in Bannu.