40,000 flee Swat region before Taliban fight

Fleeing ... evacuees from Buner walk near a camp on the outskirts of Peshawar / Reuters

THE WORLD DESPERATELY NEEDS PEACE AS THERE IS HARDLY ANY ROOM LEFT FOR ALL THE DISPLACED PEOPLE RUNNING IN FEAR AND SEEKING A BETTER LIFE. BUT WHERE TO TURN TO WHEN CHAOS IS RULING OUR LIVES? IT IS TIME FOR THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL TO PLACE SOME ORDER...
PEACE IS DESPERATELY NEEDED NOW... NOT NEXT YEAR OR NEXT... AS IN NOW... --Jeg

From correspondents in Peshawar - News.com

MORE than 40,000 civilians have fled a key town in northwest Pakistan's Swat region as fears grow of a fresh military offensive against Taliban fighters, officials said.

Clashes have flared in the last few days in Mingora, the main town in the one-time ski resort devastated by a nearly two-year Taliban insurgency, as a peace deal with the hardliners appeared close to collapse.

"More than 40,000 have migrated from Mingora since Tuesday afternoon," said Khushhal Khan, the chief administration officer in Swat.

An intelligence official confirmed the mass movement of people, telling AFP that hundreds of cars were streaming out of the area.

"An exodus of more than 40,000 people is the minimum number - it should actually be more than 50,000," he said.

Pakistan's military has been locked in a fierce offensive in neighbouring districts of Swat in the northwest, where armed militants advanced despite a February deal that the government had hoped would end a Taliban uprising.

Panic and confusion spread through Mingora yesterday after the military issued - but then swiftly withdrew - an evacuation order, and clashes between security forces and the militants broke out throughout Swat.

Khushhal Khan said the Taliban overnight tightened their grip on Mingora taking over several buildings, while four civilians were killed in the town - three in a mortar attack and one shot dead by security forces.

"They are patrolling in the streets in Mingora and occupying many official buildings, including a police station and a commissioner's office, which houses offices of top police and administration officials in Saidu Sharif," he said.

Local police said the militants had vacated the buildings and dispersed into nearby mountains, similar to rugged terrain across the northwest where they have fought a guerrilla-style campaign against security forces.

The administration of President Asif Ali Zardari came under fierce criticism for the February agreement with an Islamist cleric to put three million people in the northwest under sharia law in a bid to end a Taliban uprising.

Instead of disarming as required under the deal, the Taliban pushed further south toward the capital Islamabad, taking over large swathes of the districts of Lower Dir and Buner and prompting the latest army offensive.