http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ggkTjBJ46N7-JGmQ7x1GAyYxMhmAKABUL (AFP) — Up to 6,000 people have fled their homes in a southern Afghanistan district fearing NATO strikes amid a large-scale operation against Taliban militants, an official said Monday.
The mass exodus from Garmser, a remote district in troubled Helmand province, comes as NATO-led troops hunt Taliban militants and their allies in an operation that kicked off two weeks ago.
"Around 900 families, counting for about 5,000 to 6,000 people, have left the area," refugees ministry spokesman Shamsuddin Sarhadi told AFP.
The displaced families were being put up in a government-run camp in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand which is 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the district centre Garmser, he said.