Local residents trapped by fighting between troops and Taliban militants were given a few hours to leave. The army is trying to reverse militant advances in the area, in what the prime minister has called a "fight for the survival of the country". It says it has killed between 180-200 militants in the last 24 hours in Swat and other areas. Between 50 and 60 militants were killed in Swat on Sunday and about 140 bodies had been found in neighboring Shangla district, the military said in a statement.
Residents in the main town of Mingora and the nearby towns of Kambar and Raheemabad began leaving at 0600 (0100 GMT). Men, women, children and the elderly were seen moving along the road that leads out of the region. The lucky ones were able to get some sort of transport, ranging from a local bus to a donkey cart. But many plodded down the road on foot carrying what little they could gather. The curfew allowed residents to fled there towns to safer havens in Pakistan.
Up to 15,000 troops have now been deployed in the Swat valley and neighboring areas to take on up to 5,000 militants. The military has said it intends to "eliminate" the Taliban fighters. The fighting has already displaced some 200,000 people, while a further 300,000 are estimated to be on the move or poised to flee, the UN says. On Saturday the government said that refugee camps would be set up in Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, and to the north-east in Naushara.
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