The operation to rescue communities cut off by devastating¹ floods in Pakistan is "almost complete", the army says.

巴基斯坦军方称，拯救被洪水围困的受灾群众的工作已“基本结束”。

Major General Athar Abbas told the BBC the mission had been hampered²（阻碍，限制） by the weather, rejecting criticism that the authorities had been slow to respond.

Forecasters say more rain and flooding is likely over the next few days.

Some 1,400 people have died and aid agencies say three million people have been affected³ by Pakistan's worst floods in 80 years.

Renewed rain on Tuesday slowed the relief effort（救灾工作） , and the government's perceived inaction（不活动，迟钝） has led to protests in some areas over the past few days.

But Maj Gen Abbas said 50,000 troops had been drafted in to help in the rescue operation - and had even given out their own rations⁴ to villagers.

"In Malakand [one of the worst-affected areas] not a single bridge is intact, the complete communication infrastructure⁵ has been destroyed, and therefore there have been areas which have got isolated⁶ and aid reached quite late," he said.

"But the rescue operation has almost been completed... now it is basically relief - a lot of relief camps have come up, the medical aid is there and the soldiers have given their own rations out."

However, other Pakistan army officials said there were still areas that had not been reached, and aid agencies continued to warn that hundreds of thousands were in need.

The United Nations said around 980,000 people had lost their homes or had been forced to flee, and the UN World Food Programme said some 1.8 million needed food aid.

The BBC's Lyse Doucet in Islamabad says such flooding would have been a challenge in any country, but it is a growing crisis for a country like Pakistan, already suffering economic woes⁷ and a Taliban insurgency⁸（叛乱，暴动） .

The return of monsoon⁹ rains（季风雨） on Tuesday grounded helicopters and raised fears of renewed flooding.

The Associated Press reported that several villages in Punjab province, hundreds of miles south of Malakand, had been deluged¹⁰（使泛滥，压倒） by floodwater on Tuesday.

"We just ran away with our children, leaving behind everything," Fateh Mohammad, a resident of the Kot Addu area, told AP.

Pakistani forecasters said there could be more flash floods in the devastated¹¹ north-west, and warned that heavy rainfall would also hit other parts of the country in the coming days.

Aid agencies say the risk of waterborne diseases（水传播疾病） spreading will remain high until the floodwaters fully¹² recede¹³（退却，减弱） . Officials said there were reports of cholera¹⁴（霍乱） emerging in the Swat Valley.

Governments around the world have pledged millions of dollars in aid, but there has been no decision yet on whether to launch a global appeal.