At least two civilians were killed and eight injured in a clash with soldiers at a camp for internally displaced people in North West, officials said on Monday. The incident occurred on Friday at the Bakkakhel refugee camp in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region, where people displaced by military operations in North Waziristan have relocated.
A security official said on condition of anonymity that the trouble started when soldiers at the entrance to the sprawling camp stopped several men from entering, prompting a violent protest. "The protestors threw stones at the soldiers who responded with shells of tear gas and firing," he said. "Two civilians were killed and eight injured in the clash before the protestors were dispersed."
Neither the Pakistani army nor the government has officially commented on the incident. More than 1 million people were forced to flee after the army launched an offensive against Islamic militants in North Waziristan last June. The army says it has killed more than 2,700 rebels in the troubled region and cleared 90 per cent of the area. Moves to help refugees return home started in April but so far only a few thousand have been able to go back, according to officials. Hundreds of thousands of people are still living in makeshift camps, including about 30,000 in the Bakkakhel camp. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told visiting UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres Monday that his government has allocated 1 billion dollars to aid people displaced by the military offensive.