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130,000 refugees flee into Pakistan: UNHCR

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on Thursday said that up to 130,000 Afghan refugees had fled to Pakistan ever since the September 11 attacks on the United States.

The agency had earlier put the figure at 80,000.

"At the beginning of the week we said 80,000. But that was a very conservative estimate," UNHCR spokesman Yusuf Hassan said.

"That was just for Quetta and Peshawar, but it is not just those two places that are attracting refugees. People are heading elsewhere. It is possible that it is as many as 130,000."

"We have confirmed 65,000 at Peshawar. There have been at least 40,000 to 50,000 through the Chaman border crossing, plus others crossing elsewhere."

The agency has estimated that up to 1.5 million people could flee to neighbouring countries in the long term, with about one million heading for Pakistan.

Agencies

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