Pakistan Taliban end ceasefire with govt, order attacks

Pakistan’s Taliban said on Monday they have called off a shaky ceasefire agreed with the government in June and ordered fighters to stage attacks across the country.

The Tehreek-e-taliban Pakistan (TTP), a separate entity from the Taliban in Afghanistan but sharing a similar Islamist ideology, have been responsible for hundreds of attacks and thousands of deaths since emerging in 2007.

They agreed to a truce earlier this year after Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers took a prominent role in brokering peace talks, but negotiations made little progress and there were frequent breaches. “We... have shown our continued patience so that the negotiation process is not sabotaged,” the TTP said. “But the army and intelligence agencies do not stop and continue the attacks, so now our retaliatory attacks will also start across the country.”

Less than two weeks ago the TTP claimed an ambush that killed six policemen in northwest Pakistan, claiming they were plotting a “raid” on their base in the area.

Since Friday the military has been patrolling the area in an attempt to root out militants, with helicopter gunships shelling their hideouts.

Meanwhile, a high-valued TTP commander was killed along with ten other militants in a fierce gun battle during an encounter in northwest Pakistan on Monday, security sources said. TTP commander Tipu and ten others were killed in the shootout between militants and security forces in the Lakki Marwat district bordering South Waziristan tribal district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.