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The Pakistani military says that it has killed more than 80 fighters in heavy fighting against several thousand Taliban loyalists in the country's northwest.
As the fighting raged, tens of thousands of residents fled the Swat valley area of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
The army launched its major offensive on Wednesday, with reports of aerial support being used overnight into Thursday.
Al Jazeera's Sohail Rahman, reporting from the capital Islamabad, said: "The military offensive has continued overnight and into Thursday ... our producers on the ground say the curfew in the region has been lifted and will be reemployed at midnight [18:00 GMT].
"The roads are blocked and there is very little transport for those fleeing the fighting, so they have taken to the roads on foot to reach IDP camps," he said.
"We are also hearing reports of jet fighters being used, that will be the first time in this battle and, if true, it is a very worrying development."
Helicopter raids
As citizens escaped to camps for internally displaced people (IDP), a February peace deal between the government and the Taliban looked to be all but extinguished.
Meanwhile, the eldest son of Sufi Muhammad, a regional leader who brokered the accord, Kifayatullah, a school teacher, was killed in a bombardment in Lower Dir which, like Swat valley, is in the Malakand area of the NWFP.
Helicopter raids preceded a ground incursion to re-take a forested region where a number of mines are sited, a military official said.
"Security forces were being targeted from emerald mines. In retaliatory fire, 35 militants were killed," the military said in a statement on Wednesday.
Another 49 pro-Taliban fighters were reportedly killed in the neighboring Buner district.
Rahman reported that three Frontier Corps paramilitaries were killed in a Taliban assault on a checkpoint in Lower Dir. Eleven others were captured.
The military spokesman said there were also reports of a number of civilian deaths.
Refugees
The government said it was preparing to shelter up to 500,000 refugees, while the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned of a mounting humanitarian crisis in the region.
The ICRC said that they were marshalling aid to provide for 120,000 people but could no longer reach the areas most affected by violence.
PHOTO CAPTION
Map of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, showing Swat, Mingora and Peshawar.
Al-Jazeera
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