Thousands flee Swat Valley as curfew is relaxed

Mingora: Thousands of fearful civilians - many on foot or donkey carts - streamed out of the Swat valley on Sunday as authorities briefly lifted a curfew.

The army said it had killed scores of militants in the latest fighting.

The government has urged residents of the area to leave over the past week, while its warplanes have pounded the Taliban-held valley and surrounding areas in a US-backed operation the prime minister has called a "war of the country's survival".

Hundreds of thousands of civilians have already fled the valley, seeking refuge with relatives or flooding relief camps. Many of those camps were already filled with people displaced from previous army operations.

Much of the latest fighting occurred along the periphery of Swat and Shangla, a neighbouring district, he said, and at least 140 bodies of alleged militants were discovered at a militant training camp in that area.

In Swat, the main town of Mingora was relatively calm, though an army statement said 50 to 60 militants died yesterday in various parts of the valley, a one-time tourist haven. Two soldiers also died in the latest fighting, including one who succumbed to injuries suffered on Friday, the army said. The death tolls could not be confirmed independently.

Once the curfew was lifted yesterday, more residents in Swat towns tried to get out any way they could - on motorbikes, animal-pulled carts, rickshaws or simply on foot. A ban on civilian vehicles entering the valley complicated the exodus for those without cars.

"We are going out only with our clothes and a few things to eat on the long journey," said Rahmat Alam, a 40-year-old medical technician walking out of Mingora with 18 other relatives. "We just got out relying on God because there is no one else to help us."

Taliban fighters were visible in Mingora. Army helicopters briefly shelled two neighbourhoods in the city, but overall the fighting was significantly less than in previous days.

The curfew was reimposed in the mid-afternoon, confirmed Colonel Mohammad Nadeem, a military spokesman.

By giving residents a chance to escape, the army may be signalling it is preparing an escalation in its offensive against the militants who began a violent campaign to take over Swat some two years ago.

In the northwest district of Mardan, government official Khalid Umerzai said more than 100,000 displaced Pakistanis were expected Sunday, on top of 252,000 already there.

"Vehicles loaded with people are coming down bumper-to-bumper from Swat, and we are expecting a huge crowd of people and organising two more relief camps in Mardan and Takhtbai," Umerzai said.

The international aid agency World Vision said its relief workers were finding "intolerable" conditions at some relief camps due to soaring temperatures, overcrowding, inadequate toilets and a lack of electricity.