THOUSANDS of terrified Pakistanis dodged Taliban roadblocks to flee fighting yesterday between the army and insurgents in a northwestern valley, streaming into refugee camps and crowding hospitals with their fatigued and hungry children.

Taliban militants attacked an army convoy today in a north-western region covered by an increasingly fragile peace pact, killing one soldier and dealing another blow to an agreement seen in the West as a capitulation to extremists.

Witnesses and a local intelligence official say a blast destroyed a house in a Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border, and a missile strike is suspected.