Tens of thousands of civilians, many on foot or donkey-led carts, took advantage of a lifted curfew to flee Pakistan’s embattled Swat Valley, while the army said it had killed 400 to 500 militants in its battle against the Taliban.

Thousands of fearful civilians, many on foot, fled a war-torn Pakistani valley today to take advantage of a lifted curfew that could precede an even more intense round of fighting between the military and the Taliban.