Red Cross: Pakistan Now a War Zone

Tribal areas become war zone as government steps up assault on militants

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 3, 2008 6:12 AM CDT

(Newser) – Pakistan's escalating confrontation with the Taliban has plunged the country into full-scale war, the New York Times reports. A quarter of a million people have fled the fighting as the Pakistani army attacks the militants in tribal areas on at least three fronts, and 20,000 have flooded in desperation over the border into Afghanistan. "This is now a war zone," warned a Red Cross spokesman.

The military's aggressive move into Tailban and al-Qaeda-dominated tribal areas is a response to both US pressure to stem incursions into Afghanistan and a rise in militant attacks on Pakistani cities. The Pakistani government says winning the hearts and minds of those in the tribal areas is vital, although refugees from areas sandwiched between the ferocious Pakistani assault and cruel Taliban warlords say they have had enough of both sides.

[Images (4)]

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Pakistani men from tribal forces chant slogans against the Taliban in Raghagan, near Khar, in the troubled Bajaur agency, Pakistan, Friday, Sept. 26, 2008. (AP Photo/Aamir Qureshi, Pool)

People queue for food at a refugee camp set up for displaced villagers who fled Pakistani tribal areas due to fighting between Pakistani troops and militants, Friday, Sept. 19, 2008. (AP Photo/Mohammad Zubair)

Pakistani police officers inspect the site where a bomb exploded in Charsadda, Pakistan, on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

Troops of Pakistan's army patrol in the troubled area of Kanju, Swat valley on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008 in Pakistan. (AP Photo/Sherin Zada)

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In Bajaur, innocent people are being killed as infidels, the dead cattle are lying on the road, the roads are tainted with the blood of the people who have been killed. - Hajji Sher Zaman, a refugee from Pakistan's tribal areas

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Red Cross: Pakistan Now a War Zone