More than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled a remote region in northwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan over uncertainty of a military operation against the Pakistani Taliban, residents and officials said Tuesday (January 27, 2026). He said no military operation was underway or planned in Tirah, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. His comments came weeks after residents started fleeing Tirah over fears of a possible army operation. Last August, Pakistan launched a military operation against Pakistani Taliban in the Bajaur district in the northwest, displacing hundreds of thousands of people. The military says it will continue intelligence-based operations against Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP.