Clashes in Swat see thousands flee
Updated on 07 May 2009
Thousands flee Pakistan's Swat Valley, where militants are reported to have dug in at the main town of Mingora. Jonathan Rugman reports.
There have also been clashes in the neighbouring Buner and Lower Dir districts, where the son of a prominent cleric was killed in the shelling.
Thousands of terrified residents are fleeing the heavy fighting crammed onto trucks, even on foot, their only possessions what they can carry.
As Pakistani aircraft bombard Taliban positions in the area, officials fear up to half a million refugees could join the exodus.
The fighting now stretches across a 50-mile area of north west Pakistan, less than 100 miles from the capital Islamabad.
