QUETTA, Aug 25: Around 338 Afghan families repatriated to their homeland from the Iris Verification Centre at Chaman on Tuesday. Now the number of refugees repatriated from the new camps of Balochistan has reached 18,000, says a UNHCR press release issued here on Wednesday.

Six new refugee camps had been established in the border areas of Balochistan after the US-led coalition attack on Afghanistan in October 2001. Four camps were set up in Chaman and two in Mohammad Kheil where a total of 1,27,000 Afghans were accommodated by the UNHCR.

All these camps are being closed as the Pakistan government, the World Food Programme and UNHCR had announced to stop their assistance to these camps after Aug 31. -APP