Thousands of fearful civilians — many on foot or donkey-pulled carts — streamed out of a conflict-ridden Pakistani valley on Sunday as authorities briefly lifted a curfew.
Pakistan has urged residents of the Swat Valley to leave over the past week, while its warplanes have pounded the militant-held valley and surrounding areas in a US-backed operation the prime minister has called a “war of the country’s survival.”
The army said yesterday afternoon that it had killed at least 180 suspected militants over the last 24 hours. It said at least 140 bodies of alleged militants had been discovered in Shangla, a district next to Swat where fighting appears to have intensified.
Advancing troops destroyed a militant training camp in Shangla’s Banai Baba area, it said.
In Swat, the main town of Mingora was relatively calm, but the army statement reported that 50 to 60 militants had died yesterday in various parts of the valley.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians have already fled the valley, seeking refuge with relatives or flooding relief clamps.
Once the curfew was lifted early yesterday, more residents in Swat towns tried to get out any way they could — on motorbikes, animal-pulled carts, rickshaws or on foot.
Taliban fighters were visible in Mingora. Army helicopters briefly shelled two neighborhoods in the city, but overall the fighting was significantly less than on previous days.
Officials said the curfew would be reinstated by late afternoon or early evening; there were conflicting reports about the exact time.
By giving residents a chance to escape, the army may be signaling it is preparing an escalation in its offensive against the militants, who began a violent campaign to take over Swat some two years ago.
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