UNHCR reported on Friday that a large number of Afghans have crossed into Pakistan to escape fighting in northeastern Afghanistan. UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski in Geneva called it “the single largest one-week influx this year.” From 1 October to 12 October, there were 3,783 new arrivals, including 2,127 children, 943 women and 713 men, UNHCR regional spokesperson Yusuf Hassan told IRIN on Monday. Since the beginning of September, there had been nearly 10,000 new arrivals, Hassan said. From Thursday to Saturday, approximately 8,000 refugees were moved to the new Shamshatu camp, about 35 km southeast of Peshawar, he added.
Hassan told IRIN that 130 refugees had been located who had trekked 600km from Taloqan, a former stronghold of the Northern Alliance in Takhar province that was taken by the Taliban on 6 September after fierce fighting. The refugees, now at the old Khairabad refugee camp 50km east of Peshawar, were in especially bad condition, Hassan said.
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