More than a million flee Pakistan fighting

The United Nations has said that more than a million people have fled fighting in northern Pakistan and the government is struggling to deal with an exodus of refugees. Pakistani planes today bombed the Taliban in its Swat stronghold, in a battle viewed as a test of Pakistan's resolve to fight a growing Taliban insurgency.

At least half a million people have fled the fighting in the north western Swat Valley, where a peace deal broke down earlier this week, bringing the total displaced in recent months to one million. As many as 200,000 people have arrived in safe areas in the past few days, and another 300,000 are on the move or are about to flee a United Nations refugee council spokesman said.

Authorities agreed in February to a Taliban demand for the introduction of Islamic sharia law in the valley but the militants refused to disarm, and pushed out of Swat closer to the capital. Helicopter gunships, fighters and troops were all involved in Swat operations, and up to 17 militants were killed after as many as 55 were killed the previous day, military officials said. "To a rough estimate there are between 4,000 to 5,000 militants ... present in Swat," Major-General Athar Abbas, military spokesman, said in an interview with Dawn TV. Asked about the army's objective, he said: "We are looking forward to the return of the writ of the state, reestablishment of the writ."

Two children were killed and five others wounded when two mortar shells hit a house in his neighbourhood, Salman Khan, speaking from Saidu Sharif told the Daily Telegraph newspaper. Tens of thousands of civilians have fled the fighting this week. The International Committee of the Red Cross said a humanitarian crisis was intensifying. Desperate Swat residents appealed for a pause in the fighting so they could escape, saying the Taliban were not allowing them to leave, perhaps because they want to use them as "human shields" and make the army unwilling to use force. "We want to leave the city, but we cannot go out because of the fighting," said one resident, Hidayat Ullah. "We will be killed, our children will be killed, our women will be killed and these Taliban will escape.""Kill terrorists, but don't harm us," he pleaded. "We are ready to make every sacrifice if the government really means business this time," said Gul Omer, a poultry trader, referring to previous, inconclusive military action that was followed by the peace deal.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children