Source : Reuters

By Junaid Khan

MINGORA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani helicopter gunships and war planes hit Taliban positions in the militants' Swat valley bastion on Saturday but a curfew prevented civilians from fleeing the fighting.

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

The military said up to 55 militants were killed in the day's clashes and four soldiers were wounded. The figures could not be independently confirmed.

Pakistan's army went on a full-scale offensive after the government ordered troops to flush out militants from the Islamist stronghold, a former tourism center.

Fighting had already picked up earlier in the week, triggering a civilian exodus from the battle zones in recent days but concerns are growing about the fate of those still trapped and unable to move because of a curfew.

"We are feeling so helpless, we want to go but can't as there is a curfew," said Sallahudin Khan by telephone from Mingora, Swat's main town.

"We tried to leave yesterday after authorities relaxed the curfew for a few hours, but couldn't as the main road leading out of Mingora was literally jammed with the flood of fleeing people," he said as gunship fire boomed in the background.

Helicopters and warplanes targeted militant hideouts in Mingora and other areas in Swat, military officials said. Militants fired rockets at an army base in Mingora.

Swat administrator, Khushal Khan, told Reuters the curfew would remain in force throughout the day.

The U.N. refugee agency has said a "massive displacement" is underway. Citing provincial government estimates, it said on Friday up to 200,000 people had left their homes over recent days with a further 300,000 on the move or about to move.

They join 555,000 people displaced from other areas because of fighting since August, the agency said.

Many of the displaced stay with relatives or friends or find shelter on their own, but aid agencies and officials fear if the situation is protracted they will join tens of thousands in camps, further straining resources.

Pakistan's private Express TV station reported looting at one camp on Saturday, showing scenes of scuffles over supplies, but said the situation had been brought under control.

Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told a news conference the government would seek international help for the displaced people.

He also said the military would do its best to avoid hurting civilians.

"This is not a normal war. This is a guerrilla war. But it is our resolve, it is the resolve of the army that there should be minimum collateral damage."

Pakistan's fight against militants sheltering near the border with Afghanistan is seen as vital to efforts to defeat the insurgency in that country.

While Swat is not next to the border, analysts say it could also become a base for Afghanistan insurgents as well as for efforts to destabilize nuclear-armed Pakistan's government.

Up to 15,000 troops have been pitched against between 4,000 to 5,000 battle-hardened militants in the valley.

"In my area, there is no government, it's all Taliban," said Ibrahim Khan, a farmer in the militant stronghold of Matta town.

"They are in full control."

In an incident that could hurt government efforts to rally support for the offensive, suspected pilotless U.S. drone aircraft fired missiles on Saturday at targets in South Waziristan, an al Qaeda and Taliban sanctuary on the Afghanistan border, intelligence officials said.

One official as well as a Taliban source said the missiles killed five militants. Another intelligence official put the death toll at as high as 20.

Pakistanis have criticized such U.S. attacks because they sometimes kill civilians and are viewed as violating sovereignty. They have been a factor in past opposition to Islamabad cooperating with Washington in fighting militants.

(Additional reporting by Augustine Anthony. Alamgir Bitani and Zeeshan Haider; Writing by Jerry Norton; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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