Swat Valley residents flee fighting

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 5 (UPI) -- Residents used a break in a curfew to flee their homes in Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan Friday, following evacuation orders, officials said.

Military helicopters leafleted the valley overnight, telling residents the government would ease curfew restrictions in several villages in the districts of Kabal and Matta to allow civilians to leave their homes, reported Dawn, Pakistan's English-language newspaper.

Buses were available to transport people without vehicles to government camps set up for the approximately 2 million people displaced by six weeks of fighting between military and Taliban militants, a military official said.

The military advised residents to leave Imam Dheri, Damaghar, Kozabandi, Chota Kalam, Ningolai and Shakardara, all near Swat's main town of Mingora, which the military said it reclaimed from Taliban fighters last weekend.

"The decision has been taken after reports that militants fleeing Mingora are now hiding in these places," the official told Dawn.

Army Gen. Ashfaq Kayani said in a statement that fighting in Swat had "decisively turned" and militant leaders were being "aggressively hunted."