Half a million people likely to flee Swat valley

At least five lakh people are likely to be displaced from the restive Swat valley, where an upsurge in fighting between security forces and militants has forced civilians to flee to safer places, the authorities said on Tuesday.

A large number of people are evacuating the valley as militants and troops are clashing in separate places after the Taliban said that a peace deal reached with the local government stands "dissolved".

"In view of this situation in Swat, at least 5,00,000 people can migrate from that area. Camps are being established for them," North West Frontier Province information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told reporters in Peshawar.

"All districts are being provided with emergency help to take care of the displaced families," he added. The situation was getting complicated with the passage of time, he was quoted as saying by local TV channels.

Khushal Khan, the head of the civil administration, asked citizens to vacate Mingora, the main town of the valley, as soon as possible as heavily-armed Taliban militants took up positions across the city, occupied several buildings and blocked key roads.

Amid increasing tension in Swat, President Asif Ali Zardari arrived in Washington for a crucial summit with his US and Afghan counterparts Barack Obama and Hamid Karzai on Wednesday. The meeting will discuss the strategy to combat Taliban and Al-Qaida in the region.