By IRNA,
Islamabad : Thousands fled for safe places as Pakistani security forces and Taliban-linked militants fought gunbattle in restive Swat Valley on Wednesday, officials and witnesses said.
Internally displaced persons, who arrived in Mardan, a main city in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), from the restive Swat valley are facing problems to get shelter and food, witnesses said.
The NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain says that he expects hostilities in Swat will disperse around five hundred thousands people. He said that the camps have been set up for the displaced people.
The security forces entered Mingora, the main city in Swat Valley, early Wenesday morning to expel hundreds of Taliban forces, who had on Tuesday, occupied man buildings, government offices and all roads.
“We are hearing heavy firing in the city,” a Mingpra-based journalist Syed Shahabuddin told IRNA on phone.
He said that the army used heavy artillery to shell emerald mines at Fizaghat area, only a kilometer from Mingora. There was no report of casualties as journalists are not allowed to visit the war-shattered area.
The authorities have imposed curfew for an indefinite period in Swat and Malakand areas, forcing the people to confine to their homes.
Correspondents said that the people wanted to flee but the curfew has forced them to stay indoors.