Pakistan raids Taleban stronghold

Pakistan's army says it has dropped troops by helicopter to tackle a Taleban stronghold as part of a broadening offensive in the north-west.The troops were landed in the sparsely populated Peochar valley in Swat. One of the bases of Swat Taleban chief Maulana Fazlullah.Hundreds of thousands have fled the fighting and Human Rights Watch has urged the army and Taleban to avoid civilian casualties.One resident in the main town of Mingora in Swat described the situation there as dire.The man, who did not want to be identified, told that food supplies were running out, and electricity and gas had been cut off."Thousands of people are still trapped in Mingora, but the town is like a ghost city as no one dares to come out in the streets."