Islamabad ? Soldiers sent to halt a Taliban advance toward the Pakistani capital fought their way over a mountain pass Thursday, killed at least 14 militants and narrowly escaped a wave of suicide car bombers, the army said.

As troops pursued an offensive praised by the United States, a burst of shootings in a southern city left dozens dead and added the specter of ethnic conflict to the Islamist violence gnawing at the nuclear-armed country’s stability.

President Asif Ali Zardari urged ordinary Pakistanis to support the operation in the Buner region so the Islamic nation would remain under “a moderate, modern and democratic state.”

But there was anger and skepticism among hundreds of residents fleeing Buner on Thursday to join more than half a million others displaced by fighting that has flared across the northwest over the past year.

“Both sides bring us trouble: The Taliban is shelling, the army is shelling,” said Taj Mohammed, a 43-year-old farmer driving a pickup truck carrying more than a dozen relatives. “Why are they putting our women and children in danger? We want peace, whether it comes through the government or the Taliban.”