New York, Aug 11 - Some 765,000 people who had been forced to leave their houses due to fighting between troops and militants in northwest Pakistan have returned home, though continued fighting was causing a fresh round of displacement, the UN has said.

Some 1.2 million people had been displaced because of the fighting and over 160,000 are sheltering in 21 camps, WAM news agency reported Tuesday quoting the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

District authorities in Lower Dir have asked the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to build three camps to house up to 20,000 people.

New outbreak of fighting in Buner district has caused 35,000 people to flee their homes.

The World Food Programme (WFP) and UNHCR are identifying potential sites for humanitarian hubs for distributing food and other items to refugees.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said that nearly two-thirds of the vegetable crop in the region has been ruined.