Pakistan
Pakistani police officers collect evidence from the site of suicide bombing on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan Tuesday, May 5, 2009. A suicide ca...
Pakistani police officers collect evidence from the site of suicide bombing on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan Tuesday, May 5, 2009. A suicide car bomber killed four security forces and wounded passing schoolchildren Tuesday in Pakistan's volatile northwest, where the government is under pressure from Washington to crack down on militants. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)
Pakistan
Local residents prepare to board into a vehicle to flee from the area in Mingora, the main of town of Pakistan Swat Valley, Tuesday, May 5, 2009. Tal...
Local residents prepare to board into a vehicle to flee from the area in Mingora, the main of town of Pakistan Swat Valley, Tuesday, May 5, 2009. Taliban militants patrolled the streets of a northwestern town Monday and residents were ordered to flee as a peace deal widely criticized as a surrender to the extremists appeared on the verge of collapse, witnesses and officials said. (AP Photo/Naveed Ali)
Pakistan
Local residents sit on the rooftop of a bus to flee from the area in Mingora, the main of town of Pakistan Swat Valley, Tuesday, May 5, 2009. Taliban...
Local residents sit on the rooftop of a bus to flee from the area in Mingora, the main of town of Pakistan Swat Valley, Tuesday, May 5, 2009. Taliban militants patrolled the streets of a northwestern town Monday and residents were ordered to flee as a peace deal widely criticized as a surrender to the extremists appeared on the verge of collapse, witnesses and officials said. (AP Photo/Naveed Ali)
A Pakistani minister says the government expects up to 500,000 people to flee fighting between the army and the Taliban in a northwestern valley.
Information minister for the northwest, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, says authorities are preparing six camps to accommodate those expected to flee the Swat Valley in the coming days.
Witness and officials say fighting between troops and militants broke out in Swat on Tuesday and that hundreds were fleeing.
The region had been covered by a much criticized cease-fire that has slowly broken down in recent weeks.
