In the present study an unsteady mixed convection boundary layer flow of an electrically conduct-ing fluid over an stretching permeable sheet in the presence of transverse magnetic field, thermal radiation and non-uniform heat source/sink effects is investigated. The unsteadiness in the flow and temperature fields is due to the time-dependent nature of the stretching velocity and the surface temperature. Both opposing and assisting flows are considered. The dimensionless governing or-dinary non-linear differential equations are solved numerically by applying shooting method using Runge-Kutta-Fehlberg method. The effects of unsteadiness parameter, buoyancy parameter, thermal radiation, Eckert number, Prandtl number and non-uniform heat source/sink parameter on the flow and heat transfer characteristics are thoroughly examined. Comparisons of the present results with previously published results for the steady case are found to be excellent.