Holbrooke asks European, Muslim nations to aid Pakistan

By Robert Birsel

SHAH MANSOOR CAMP, Pakistan (Reuters) - U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke urged European and Muslim nations on Thursday to help families who have fled the conflict in Pakistan's Swat valley and avert a humanitarian crisis.

Pakistan launched an offensive to expel Taliban militants from Swat last month in a move welcomed by Western allies worried that the nuclear-armed state was sliding into chaos.

About 2.5 million people have been displaced by the fighting in Swat and other parts of the northwest.

"What I can't stress too highly enough is the job is to get them home, and that requires security and assistance from the rest of the world community," Holbrooke told reporters at the Shah Mansoor Camp, 80 km (50 miles) northwest of Islamabad.

"The reconstruction phase is going to cost as much as the humanitarian phase."

Holbrooke said he would meet Pakistani leaders, including army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, in Islamabad on Friday to discuss the next phase of holding, securing and rehabilitating Swat after the operation to clear the valley had been completed.

The army has retaken the main town in Swat, and more than 1,200 militants and 90 soldiers have been killed in the fighting. Another 10 militants were killed and six arrested, in the past 24 hours, the military said in a statement. One soldier was killed.

A roadside bomb hit a security force convoy travelling to Buner district, just to the southeast of Swat, wounding 16 paramilitary soldiers and policemen, police said.