Pakistan moves against Swat militants

By Junaid Khan

MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani forces attacked Taliban militants in the Swat valley on Friday as concern grew about the fate of nearly a million people displaced by an upsurge in violence.

The military said 143 militants had been killed in the Islamist bastion of Swat over the past 24 hours. There was no independent confirmation. Seven soldiers had been killed, an army spokesman said.

The struggle in the scenic northwestern valley 130 km (80 miles) from Islamabad and a former centre for tourism has become a test of Pakistan's resolve to fight a growing Taliban insurgency that has alarmed the United States.

Civilians have poured out of the valley since fighting intensified on Wednesday and aid groups have warned of an intensifying humanitarian crisis. The U.N. refugee agency said a "massive displacement" was underway. Citing provincial government estimates, it said up to 200,000 people had left their homes over recent days with another 300,000 on the move or about to move.

They are joining another 555,000 people displaced in other areas because of fighting since August, it said.

The government has ordered the army to strike at "militants and terrorists" it said were trying to hold the country hostage at gunpoint.

"On the directive of the government, the army is now engaged in a full-scale operation to eliminate the militants," military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas told a news briefing at army headquarters in Rawalpindi.

"They are on the run and trying to block exodus of civilians from the area," Abbas said, while warning that the operation was difficult and declining to give a time for clearing the valley.