ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani Taleban Saturday announced a month-long ceasefire aimed at resuming stalled peace talks with the Pakistan government, but analysts voiced scepticism over the move.

Dialogue between Islamabad and the Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP) that began last month was suspended after the militants killed 23 soldiers.

The military responded with a series of air strikes that have left more than 100 insurgents dead.

“We announce a month-long ceasefire from today and appeal to all our comrades to respect the decision and refrain from any activity during this period,” TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told AFP.

“Because of a positive response from the government, an appeal from the religious scholars and for the better future of Pakistan we have decided not to carry out any attacks for one month,” he said.

There has been no official response from the government, but negotiators representing it in the stalled peace talks have welcomed the move.

Rustam Shah Mohmand, a member of the government committee for the talks, said it was “good news”.

“Certainly we see light at the end of the tunnel,” he told AFP. “The government too should announce a ceasefire to further strengthen the confidence-building measure.”

He added that the government should now talk directly with the Taleban, rather than through intermediaries.

12 die in bomb blasts targeting polio team

Twelve people were killed and 11 injured when three roadside bombs targeting a polio vaccination team in Pakistan’s restive northwest exploded Saturday, officials said, in the latest attack on efforts to combat the crippling disease.

Militant strikes and threats of violence have badly hampered campaigns to stamp out polio in Pakistan, one of only three countries where the disease remains endemic.

Eleven paramilitary troops and one child died after the bombs detonated in the Lashora area of Jamroud Tehsil in Khyber tribal district, 30 kilometers southwest of the city of Peshawar, senior administration official Jahangir Khan told AFP.

The troops were protecting a convoy of health workers who were on their way to administer anti-polio drops to children as part of a three-day campaign against polio that started Friday, he said.

“A convoy of three vehicles was taking polio workers to administer the drops and the bombs exploded after the first vehicle that was carrying polio workers crossed the spot,” Khan said. He added that two vehicles belonging to the medical team were also damaged in the explosions.

Samim Jan, chief of the government-run hospital in Jamroud, confirmed the causalities.

“Twelve dead bodies and three injured were brought here, one of the injured is in critical condition,” he told AFP. Jan also said that eight of the injured have been shifted to Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar.

Rehman Khan, a senior health official in Khyber tribal district, said the polio campaign has been temporarily suspended in the Jamroud area.

“We will resume administering of polio drops when the security situation is better,” he told AFP.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.

Militant groups see vaccination campaigns as a cover for espionage, and there are also long-running rumors about polio drops causing infertility.

More than 40 people, including health workers and police guarding the teams which administer polio drops to children, have been killed in Pakistan since December 2012.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Pakistan recorded 91 cases of polio last year, up from 58 in 2012. Victims are left dead, paralyzed or with withered limbs.

Pakistan’s failure to defeat polio stands in stark contrast to its neighbor and great rival India, which recently celebrated the eradication of polio three years after its last case.

The WHO has warned that Peshawar, the main city of the northwest, is the world’s “largest reservoir” of polio. Afghanistan and Nigeria are the other countries where the disease persists.

Last week gunmen kidnapped a six-member polio vaccination team in southwest Pakistan. They were released two days later after the intervention of local tribal elders.

Masked gunmen kidnapped another six-member polio vaccination team southwest of Peshawar earlier last month. Their whereabouts are currently unknown.