KHAR (AFP) — Pakistan on Sunday rejected a ceasefire offered by Taliban militants in a troubled tribal region near the Afghan border as troops killed seven rebel fighters, officials said.
The militants in the Bajaur region offered a unilateral ceasefire as a two-week-old military operation left some 500 people dead.
"We have directed our militants to stop attacks against the government and security forces in Bajaur from today," Maulvi Omar, spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (Taliban Movement), told AFP.
The decision has been taken following talks with tribal elders, he said in a telephone call from unknown location.
"The jirga (elders' council) insisted that Taliban should stop fighting in the interest of the people of Bajaur."
The jirga has "assured" that troops will also suspend shelling and bombing raids in the area, he said.
"We are ready for talks with the government and the truce is an important development towards dialogue," Omar said.
But Advisor to Prime Minister on Interior Affairs Rehman Malik immediately rejected the offer.
"We will not accept the ceasefire," Malik told reporters in Islamabad.
"We do not believe in their verbal commitments. If they are sincere they should first surrender," he said, adding that tribal militants have violated their pledges in the past after troops stopped their operations.
Pakistani forces moved into Bajaur, a known hub of Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, earlier this month. The government says at least 500 militants have been killed since then.
Troops fired artillery shells and gunship helicopters pounded suspected militant hideouts almost daily since the operation was mounted on August 6.
The offensive has displaced nearly 200,000 people in the region so far.
Pakistan's fragile coalition government, which forced US ally president Pervez Musharraf to resign on August 18, is under heavy international pressure to tackle Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants.
US and Afghan officials say the rebels have sanctuaries in the rugged tribal border regions of Pakistan that they use to train, regroup and launch attacks on international troops in Afghanistan.
Pakistani troops killed seven more militants as clashes continued in the tribal belt and Taliban rebels slaughtered an alleged spy, officials said Sunday.
Troops launched a mortar attack on suspected militant hideouts in Bajaur overnight after their checkposts came under attack, security officials said.
"Five militants were killed in the mortar fire targeting suspected militant hideouts," an official said, requesting anonymity.
Officials said that Taliban militants in the area slit the throat of a 35-year-old man after accusing him of spying for US troops across the border in Afghanistan.
Militants also attacked two security posts in another tribal district of South Waziristan late Saturday, wounding three soldiers, officials said adding that two militants were killed in retaliatory strikes.
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