Hundreds Of Thousands Of Desperate Pakistanis Flee Tribal Region (PHOTOS) --- Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis fled the tribal region of North Waziristan last week after the army launched airstrikes against militants in the remote corner of the country. -- Reuters reports that about 50,000 refugees have crossed into Afghanistan to escape government airstrikes in the past ten days, while more than 400,000 are displaced within the country. The Pakistani government had urged residents to leave the tribal area by Monday before the start of a ground offensive that is expected to launch later this week. -- United Nations agencies warned on Tuesday that the massive displacement of North Waziristan residents heightened the risk of the spread of polio in Pakistan. Militants in the tribal region have long obstructed the distribution of vaccines. "There is a risk that now with the population moving out (of North Waziristan) that the virus will move out," Sona Bari, spokeswoman for the World Health Organization, told Reuters on Tuesday. - More, Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/24/waziristan-refugees-photos_n_5526242.html?utm_hp_ref=afghanistan