LANDIKOTAL, Pakistan: Pakistani security forces launched an offensive against Taleban fighters near the northwestern city of Peshawar yesterday, prompting a militant commander to suspend peace talks and threaten retaliation.
The crackdown in the Khyber tribal region followed a series of sorties by Taleban fighters into Peshawar to push people to observe their laws.
“There has not been any resistance from any group or miscreants,” according to a government statement in Peshawar.
Maj. Gen. Alam Khattack, who is leading the offensive, said it was focused on Bara town, around 5 km west of Peshawar, and could be extended to other parts of Khyber.
A senior security officer said the troops fired mortar rounds into militant bases and destroyed eight of them, including the house of local militant commander Mangal Bagh. He said one militant was killed in an exchange of fire.
Roads in and out of Bara were closed, and a curfew was in place. “People are in a state of fear. They are moving to safer places. All shops are shut,” Murad Safi, a resident of Bara, said.
Pakistani Taleban leader Baitullah Mehsud, based in the most remote tribal region, South Waziristan, telephoned a Reuters correspondent to say he was suspending peace talks.
“The talks will remain suspended until the government stops talking about operations and attacks against us,” Mehsud said.
He voiced concern that the action in Khyber was just the first of several operations planned against Taleban groups in various parts of the northwest, and threatened retaliation across Pakistan unless the offensives stopped.
