Pakistani Taliban declare ceasefire: militant spokesman
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — A Pakistani Taliban commander blamed for the murder of former premier Benazir Bhutto has declared an indefinite ceasefire with government forces, a militant spokesman said.
But an army spokesman said they were not aware of any truce and vowed that operations against Islamic militants in the rugged region near the Afghan border would continue.
Militant leader Baitullah Mehsud had ordered an "indefinite" truce following months of clashes in the tribal region of South Waziristan and neighbouring regions, said spokesman Maulvi Omar.
"We have announced ceasefire for an indefinite period because the government stopped attacking us," Omar, the spokesman for Tehreek-e-Taliban (Taliban Movement) Pakistan, told AFP by telephone.
"Baitullah Mehsud has ordered his people to stop attacks against Pakistani forces from Waziristan to Swat and other areas of Pakistan," he added.
"It is not a formal agreement with the government forces but we have done it voluntarily."
The Pakistani government and the US Central Intelligence Agency have accused Mehsud of masterminding Bhutto's assassination in a gun and suicide bomb attack in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on December 27.
Pakistani officials say he is linked to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network and is also responsible for a string of suicide bombings around the country.
Chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said the army would keep up operations against the Taliban.
"There is no formal information conveyed to us from them about a ceasefire. When they stopped firing we thought it was because of the severe weather conditions in the region," Abbas told AFP.
"Our position is very clear -- the operation has not ended, it will continue as long as the objectives the operations are achieved," he added.
"The operation will continue as long as we are clearing their hideouts and their positions from where they are attacking our forces and convoys."
More than 300 people have died in militant related violence this year, much of it in fighting between Islamic militants and troops in South Waziristan, the stronghold of Mehsud.
Mehsud's fighters occupied a paramilitary fort in the region during January.
Pakistani troops have also been battling to drive out insurgents from the tourist valley of Swat in North West Frontier Province, which borders the semi-autonomous tribal belt.
