Aid Appeal As Thousands Flee Swat Valley

The UN has launched an emergency aid appeal for more than one and a half million people displaced by the war between the Taliban and Pakistan's army.Tented camps are being overwhelmed by thousands of new arrivals fleeing the fighting in the Swat Valley and surrounding regions in North Pakistan.The UN has estimated that it will need as much as £380m to deal with the tide of people.It has described the situation as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today.The British Government has responded to the appeal by pledging £10m, in addition to another £12m given since November.A once a beautiful tourist destination, the remains of burnt-out trucks and cars now litter the main roads that link the major towns and cities in Swat valley.Overhead, helicopter gunships having been attacking Talibanpositions in the mountains and hills around Swat's capital, Mingora.The city streets are deserted but it is likely that tens of thousands of people are still there sheltering inside their homes.So far, the Pakistani military has concentrated on Taliban bases in the countryside, but it expects to move towards the capital in the coming days.The army's spokesman, Major-General Athar Abbas, said the plan is to control areas around the major cities to cut off any escape routes for Taliban fighters before the military moves in to engage them."Operations have now started in the cities and towns but before we were fighting in the countryside; this was deliberately planned, to hit them hard," he said.