Fears grow for a million civilians in valley blitz

PAKISTANI forces attacked Taliban militants in the Swat valley yesterday, as concern grew about the fate of nearly a million people displaced by an upsurge in violence.

The military said 143 militants had been killed in the Islamist bastion of Swat over the past 24 hours. There was no independent confirmation. Seven soldiers had been killed, an army spokes- man said.

The struggle in the north- western valley, 130km from Islamabad and a former centre for tourism, has become a test of Pakistan’s resolve to fight a growing Taliban insurgency that has alarmed the United States.