ISLAMABAD, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming military operation in northwest Pakistan's Orakzai tribal agency has triggered yet another wave of people fleeing the conflict, local media reported Monday.

    Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said the operation in the Taliban base of South Waziristan was successful and the security forces will open new front against militants in neighboring Orakzai region, but he did not set any date for the new operation.

    More than 40,000 civilians have shifted to nearby Hangu and Kohat districts even before the prime minister's announcement that the government has a full-fledged military operation on its mind in Orakzai to eliminate the fugitive Taliban leaders.

    An official report said that an additional 10,000 families would probably flee the looming military operation in the troubledagency. The authorities are yet to start formal registration of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the area. However, the registration may be commenced next week.

    The majority of the dislocated people in Hangu and Kohat are living with host families. The Federally Administered Tribal Areas(FATA) Secretariat notified the establishment of IDP camp in Hangudistrict to accommodate the incoming uprooted families. Eighty tents had been pitched in Hangu at a high school near Hangu City. The IDPs are yet to come to the camp as only eight families have taken shelter in this facility.

    The leadership and fighters of the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are believed to have shifted to the surrounding areas to avoid action in South Waziristan. Orakzai is the only tribal agency that doesn't have border with Afghanistan but is located on a strategic position, providing access to the militants to launch attacks in Khyber Agency, Peshawar, Kohat and Hangu districts.

    The local authorities in Hangu and Kohat are providing food items and tents to Orakzai IDPs but the uprooted families are still in dire need of humanitarian assistance. The current site for camp, it has been learnt, was not appropriate to host large number of IDPs and the authorities were looking into the possibility of setting up the camp at the site of former Afghan refugee camp at Kotki near Hangu.

    The prime minister said last week that operation in Swat valley had also been a great success and that 200,000 displaced persons have been repatriated to Swat and Malakand region in the northwest.

    "It was a unique precedent in the history that two hundred thousands internally displaced persons have been sent homes in 10 weeks," Gilani said.