[Al Arabiya Latest] At least 1,240 families have fled a massive military onslaught against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan, many sheltering with friends and relatives, Helmand authorities said Tuesday.No camps have been set up for the displaced lest they become permanent structures, said Daud Ahmadi, spokesman for Helmand Governor Mohammad Gulab Mangal.
"We deliberately did not give permission for the camps to be set up for the 1,240 families who are displaced because we did not want the camps to become permanent," Ahmadi told AFP.
The refugees are "either living with their relatives or have rented houses for themselves," in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah he said, adding that a number of international agencies were giving assistance.
The average Afghan family has five to seven members of all ages.
But Lashkar Gar is only one destination for the displaced, and Ahmadi was unable to say how many people had fled elsewhere.
Some 15,000 U.S., NATO and Afghan troops are pursuing a major operation in the Marjah and Nad Ali districts of Helmand to push out Taliban militants who together with drug lords have controlled the area for years.
The target area in the central Helmand River valley is said to be the source of much of the world's opium and a Taliban bastion.