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| Thousands flee Pakistan fighting | Thousands flee Pakistan fighting |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| A Pakistani offensive against militants in the Swat Valley has displaced some 200,000 people recently, the UN says. | A Pakistani offensive against militants in the Swat Valley has displaced some 200,000 people recently, the UN says. |
| A spokesman for the UN's refugee agency UNHCR said another 300,000 were already on the move or about to flee. | A spokesman for the UN's refugee agency UNHCR said another 300,000 were already on the move or about to flee. |
| Added to more than 550,000 who had already fled, this threatened to create one of the world's biggest displacement crises, the UNHCR spokesman said. | Added to more than 550,000 who had already fled, this threatened to create one of the world's biggest displacement crises, the UNHCR spokesman said. |
| Pakistani spokesman Gen Athar Abbas said the government had taken measures to provide for the civilians fleeing. | Pakistani spokesman Gen Athar Abbas said the government had taken measures to provide for the civilians fleeing. |
| But reports suggest some civilians are being prevented from leaving militant-held areas. | |
| Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani vowed on Thursday to "eliminate militants and terrorists" from Swat, a bastion of Taleban rule. | |
| A full-scale offensive had begun on Friday, with helicopter gunships blasting militant strongholds from the air and troops conducting operations on the ground. | |
| Displaced civilians have been forced to flee with very little preparation, aid workers say. | |
| They say families have often been separated as they fled, and doctors in displaced camps reported many were suffering psychological trauma. | |
| Despite now abandoned attempts to secure a peace deal in and around Swat, the area - close to the border with Afghanistan - has long been riven with tensions. | |
| The UN estimates that before the current crisis, some 550,000 people had been displaced since last August. |