Pakistan ? Thousands of Pakistanis skirted burning military trucks as they fled clashes between Taliban militants and the army in the northwest, adding a humanitarian emergency to the nation’s daunting challenges.

As refugees overwhelmed camps and hospitals to the south of the fighting, Pakistan’s prime minister appealed for international assistance and vowed to defeat the militants.

“I appeal to the people of Pakistan to support the government and army at this crucial time,” Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said in a television address late Thursday. “We pledge to eliminate the elements who have destroyed the peace and calm of the nation and wanted to take Pakistan hostage at gunpoint.”