Pakistani troops expand rescue in flood-hit areas

Kashmiri Muslims walk near damaged houseboats on a breached river bank of the River Jehlum in Srinagar, India-controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Sep. 11, 2014. Flash floods have washed away crops, damaged tens of thousands of homes and affected over a million people since Sept. 3, when heavy monsoon rains lashed Pakistan's eastern Punjab province and Kashmir the Himalayan region claimed by both India and Pakistan. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin) Kashmiri Muslims walk near damaged houseboats on a breached river bank of the River Jehlum in Srinagar, India-controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Sep. 11, 2014. Flash floods have washed away crops, damaged tens of thousands of homes and affected over a million people since Sept. 3, when heavy monsoon rains lashed Pakistan's eastern Punjab province and Kashmir the Himalayan region claimed by both India and Pakistan. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

By Associated Press September 12, 2014 1 min read

ISLAMABAD (AP) – Pakistan’s military says it has expanded the rescue and relief operation as flood waters hit more districts in the country’s Punjab province.

Meanwhile, officials in India-controlled Kashmir raised concerns of the spread of diseases with flood water receding there.

The Pakistani army says the floods, which started on Sept. 3 in both sections of divided Kashmir, have hit three more districts – Jhang, Multan, Bahwalpur and Rahim Yar Khan – and that troops have air-dropped food rations there.

Disaster management spokeswoman Reema Zuberi says three more people died in Punjab, bringing Pakistan’s death toll from the floods to 264, while 200 people have died in India.

Indian officials say military and private doctors have set up camps to treat victims in their Kashmir as waterborne diseases began to rise.