Pakistani warplanes pound Taliban-held Swat Valley

Civilians cowered in hospital beds and trapped residents struggled to feed their children Saturday, as Pakistani warplanes pounded a Taliban-held valley in what the prime minister called a "war of the country's survival."

Backed by the United States, warplanes and troops killed dozens of entrenched militants Saturday in the assault on northwestern Swat Valley, the army said.

The offensive has prompted the flight of hundreds of thousands of terrified residents, adding a humanitarian emergency to the nuclear-armed country's security, economic and political problems.

Desperate refugees looted UN supplies in one camp, taking blankets and cooking oil.

A suspected U.S. missile strike killed nine people, mostly foreigners, in South Waziristan, another militant stronghold near the Afghan border, Pakistani intelligence officials said. The identities of the victims remained unclear.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani directed millions of dollars to help the residents of a region where faith in the government is shaky, saying the army "can only be successful if there is support of the masses."

Backed by United States

Gilani held an emergency cabinet meeting Saturday. Speaking to reporters afterward, he called the Swat offensive a "war of the country's survival."

Encouraged by Washington, Pakistan's leaders launched the full-scale offensiveThursday to halt the spread of Taliban control in districts within 100 kilometres of the capital, Islamabad.

Pakistan's army is fighting to wrest Swat and neighbouring districts from militants who dominate the adjoining tribal belt along the Afghan frontier, where U.S. officials say al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is likely holed up.

Witness accounts indicate that scores of civilians have already been killed or injured in the escalating clashes in the Swat, Buner and Lower Dir districts.

Even the medics are gone: Only three doctors remained Saturday at the hospital in Swat's main town, Mingora all of them working flat out.