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In Pakistan, return to a ravaged town

A resident of Ambela, in Buner district, looks over the remains of a car destroyed by fire from a Pakistani tank in late April; one passenger was killed. Ambela was one of the first towns the Pakistani military entered in the operation against Taliban fighters in the northwest and residents have returned only to find crippled infrastructure, a lack of drinking water and ruined crops.

A resident of Ambela, in Buner district, looks over the remains of a car destroyed by fire from a Pakistani tank in late April; one passenger was killed. Ambela was one of the first towns the Pakistani military entered in the operation against Taliban fighters in the northwest and residents have returned only to find crippled infrastructure, a lack of drinking water and ruined crops.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Grieving in Ambela, Pakistan

Bakht Rehman is consoled by a friend over the death of Ambela schoolteacher Bakht Kareem Shah, who was killed when a Pakistani tank sprayed his car with gunfire.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Debris in Ambela

Students’ school papers that the slain teacher had with him are seen in the debris around the shell of his car.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Ambela damage

Ghazala Khan, 8, stands by a wall hit by rocket fire in Ambela, where some residents are returning to find what is left after fighting between the Pakistani military and the Taliban.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

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Ambela girls

Sana Saleem, 7, left, and Ghazala Khan, 8, have little to do in Ambela. The girls have returned to a hometown made largely unlivable by war. Phones don’t work. Electricity has been off for weeks. Wheat and tobacco crops, the town’s livelihood, have rotted.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Ambela, Pakistan

Ambela residents look through the debris, scouring for scrap metal, for now the only way to earn some cash. The town lies in the Buner district, which is just 60 miles from Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

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