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Pakistan's military is fighting "for the survival of the country" against Taleban militants in the Swat valley, its prime minister says.
Yusuf Raza Gilani was speaking as the army tried to retake Swat's main town, Mingora, where a curfew is in force.
The government signed a peace agreement with the Swat Taleban in February, allowing Sharia law there, which was heavily criticised by Washington.
The militants then moved towards the capital, Islamabad.
(Saturday,9 May 2009)
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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.
A BBC correspondent says Peochar is 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 the BBC 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."
(Tuesday,12 May 2009)
'Everything destroyed' in Swat valley
 Camps funded by NGOs and the UN are housing thousands of people |
Tens of thousands of people have been fleeing the fighting between the Pakistani army and the Taleban in the Swat district.
According to the UN, there are more than 300,000 people registered as displaced and the Pakistani government says it expects that figure to reach one million.
(Monday,12 May 2009)
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Pakistan claims 700 Taliban killed in Swat
Army attacks in the Swat valley of north-west Pakistan have killed up to 700 militants, according to the country's interior minister, amid American fears that al-Qaeda is moving to capitalise on Pakistan's growing instability.
As government forces launched new air strikes in Swat, suicide bombers struck a checkpoint near the main north-western city of Peshawar, killing 10 people and wounding more than a dozen.
The army moved into Swat, a tourist area 16omkm from the capital, Islamabad, on Thursday. The interior minister, Rehman Malik, said the operation would continue until "the last" Taliban fighter was ousted. Authorities have yet to say how many civilians have been killed or wounded, possibly for fear of causing a public outcry.
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