Pakistan on Monday began sending home about two million people displaced two months ago by the army's assault on Taliban militants in the Swat valley.

But a deadly blast at a suspected militant explosives cache in central Punjab province, far from the conflict in the northwest, served as a reminder of the scale of the challenge the government still faces in fighting insurgency and sectarian violence.

The army launched the offensive in Swat in late April after militants took over a district just 100 km (60 miles) from Islamabad, raising fears for US ally Pakistan's stability and the safety of its nuclear weapons.

The ensuing exodus was one of the biggest human migrations of recent times, stretching Pakistan's resources to the breaking point and prompting a global appeal for humanitarian help.

The military says it has now pushed the Taliban out of their former bastion of Swat, northwest of Islamabad, and the government is keen to move the displaced back to their homes.

Assured that it is safe, a few are starting to venture home.

In the dusty tent camp of Jalozai, already baking hot in the early morning sun, buses and trucks were lined up on Monday to take a first batch of people back to their homes.

'Thank God we're going back,' said farmer Qaiser Khan. 'I don't know who's right and who's wrong. We want peace and if there are terrorists, miscreants, they should be eliminated once and for all.'    

Most of the displaced moved in with family or friends but nearly 300,000 were settled in tent camps. Their plight is a sensitive issue for the government, which could see support for its more than two-month drive against the Taliban eroded if they are seen to be suffering unduly.

Fawad Ali, a 30-year-old barber, was loading his belongings, including donated bags of flour and lentils, onto the back of a truck as his family waited nearby.

He said he hoped the Taliban had gone for good. 'We're pinning our hopes on the government's efforts because we're jobless. They banned our business,' Ali said, referring to a Taliban ban on barbers cutting men's hair.

'Hopefully, things will be different and I can feed my family,' Ali said.

Chief minister of the North West Frontier Province Amir Haider Khan Hoti told a group of people going home the Taliban would be finished off. 'We will confront these elements, we will confront them together ... I assure you that in this war of survival for Pakistan we, and you, will win,' Hoti said.

Across the country in a village near Mian Channu in Punjab province, explosives believed to have been stored by militants ignited in a house used to teach children the Koran, killing at least nine people and wounding scores.

Rana Sanaullah, the provincial law minister, said police had arrested the owner of the house, a former activist of the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, a banned Sunni Muslim militant group involved in sectarian violence against minority Shi'ite Muslims.

Signs on the ground on the road back to Swat offered a mixed picture of how successful the return of the displaced might be. Reporters who have visited the Swat's main town say there was some damage to homes in the fighting, but not much. Many of the displaced have lost their crops, however, and will need support for many months, aid workers say.-Reuters