Pakistan: One of the world's largest exodus

Thousands flee Pakistan fighting: BBC

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.

Added to the more than 550,000 who had already fled, this threatened to create one of the world's biggest displacement crises, the UN says.

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.