PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — Pakistan's top Taliban commander suspended peace talks with the government Saturday as troops launched an offensive against militants threatening the country's main northwestern city.
The announcement by Baitullah Mehsud, accused by authorities of orchestrating the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto, came as a severe blow to the new government's policy of negotiating with the rebels.
Pakistan's talks with Taliban and other Islamist insurgents have caused concerns in the United States and other NATO nations with troops across the border in Afghanistan, where attacks are on the rise.
"We are suspending peace talks with the government because the government is constantly using force against us," Mehsud told AFP by satellite telephone from his stronghold in the South Waziristan tribal district.
"The government is not showing any seriousness and is using force against us. But if the government takes any military action we are also ready for martyrdom," Mehsud said.
Mehsud had announced a unilateral ceasefire in April.
The shadowy warlord's move comes amid mounting pressure on Pakistan to crack down on Taliban militants who have been launching attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan and expanding their influence in the border areas.
It came hours after Pakistan deployed paramilitary troops for a clean-up operation just outside Peshawar, the capital of troubled North West Frontier Province, security officials said.
Witnesses said troops were patrolling the street in the volatile Khyber district, which has been in the virtual control of militants loyal to local Islamist leader Mangal Bagh.
The troops' mobilisation followed a series of attacks on police and local tribesmen by the militants vowing to establish Taliban-style rule in the area.
"We have moved paramilitary troops to clear the area of militants and establish the writ of the government," a senior security official told AFP.
The district was one of the several areas where militants have tried to impose their sway in defiance of government warnings, although officials said Bagh's group was tied to the Taliban more by ideology than any military alliance.
Security officials said Mehsud was more concerned about military operations earlier in the week to clear Taliban fighters loyal to him out of the garrison town of Jandola, in South Waziristan.
Mehsud's followers executed 22 pro-government elders and dumped their bodies by a roadside on Wednesday after abducting them during clashes for control of the town.
Mehsud, who was named by Time Magazine this year in its list of the world's most influential people, vowed earlier this year to continue attacking US and NATO troops in Afghanistan despite the peace talks.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said this week that the failure of Pakistan's new government to put pressure on Taliban forces on the Afghan border was a "concern."
The government came into power after defeating loyalists of key US ally President Pervez Musharraf, whose strategy of military action in the region spawned terrorism and violence in the country, according to critics.
Pakistan has suffered an unprecedented number of suicide bombings over the past year claiming hundreds of lives. There has been a relative lull in such attacks since the new government took power.
Afghan and NATO officials have criticised Pakistan's previous attempts at peace deals with militants along the border. There have been a rise in attacks in Afghanistan, where the Taliban were removed from government in a US-led invasion in late 2001.
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