Pakistan, May 12, 2009 - Pakistan's military estimated Tuesday (May 12) that 1.3 million people are now displaced in its northwestern tribal areas where the military has been fighting Taliban- and al-Qaeda-linked militants. The figure includes around 501,000 people the UN has registered as displaced persons who have fled fighting in North West Frontier Province's (NWFP's) Swat, Buner and Lower Dir districts in the last two weeks, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Officials say thousands more have likely fled without being registered and many more are expected to flee as the military's offensive intensifies. The military began full-scale operations last week after a peace deal between the provincial government and the Taliban collapsed. The agreement was signed in February and called for the government to allow the enforcement of Islamic law in Swat and surrounding districts in exchange for the militants laying down arms. But when the rebels expanded from Swat into Buner and Lower Dir and set up patrols, the military sent in troops to oust them and the fighting began. A military spokesperson said Tuesday that so far 751 militants have been killed, along with 29 soldiers, the AP reported. No figures have been given for civilian casualties. On Tuesday military helicopters dropped soldiers in Piochar, an area about 40 miles (65 km) north of Swat's main town, Mingora, which is believed to be the rear base for the estimated 4,000 Taliban in Swat, according to the AP. While the US praises the offensive, analysts say the huge civilian displacement might compromise public support if the operation does not end quickly, the AP reported. The UN has said Pakistan does not have the necessary resources to address the crisis itself and the international body has released US$8.3 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund to support its World Food Program, Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other agencies in providing a month's worth of food rations, household items, health care, shelter and psychosocial programs. The UN's World Health Organization has warned that the displaced are at serious risk of disease outbreaks and malnutrition, according to Reuters. "This is a huge and rapidly unfolding emergency which is going to require considerable resources beyond those that currently exist in the region," the BBC quoted UNHCR Antonio Guterres as saying. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has called on the army and the Taliban to avoid civilian casualties amid reports that rebels had mined parts of Swat and were preventing people from leaving Mingora, according to the BBC. Elsewhere in the northwest, the AP reported the second suspected US drone missile attack in the northwest in three days. On Tuesday, a missile struck a house, killing at least eight people in South Waziristan agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The US is suspected of carrying out nearly 40 of these attacks since August, typically targeting al-Qaeda hideouts in the tribal areas that border Afghanistan. Pakistan continues to deplore the tactic, saying such strikes diminish support for the US-led war on terror and undermine Pakistan's sovereignty.