PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Agencies)
Pakistani security forces on Saturday launched an offensive against Taliban militants who were threatening the main northwestern city of Peshawar, prompting the movement’s leader to suspend peace talks with the government
Security forces mounted a crackdown on militants in the Khyber tribal region near Peshawar on Saturday. Baitullah Mehsud said he suspected operations would be ordered also against Taliban groups elsewhere in the region.
"The talks will remain suspended until the government stops talking about operations and attacks against us," Mehsud told Reuters by satellite phone from an undisclosed location.
"There has been no resistance, so far. No casualties, so far," Malik Naveed Khan, the police chief of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) told Reuters on the course of military operations.
Another senior security official said the offensive was focused on nearby Bara town, close to the Afghan border. A curfew had been ordered and roads to the town closed, he said.
Fawad Khan, a resident, told Reuters by telephone that the paramilitary troops fired three mortar shells at the hills overlooking Bara. "People are very scared," Khan said.
"They haven't yet imposed a strict curfew but police are urging the people to stay inside their homes"
In Peshawar, paramilitary soldiers set up bunkers in Hayatabad, a neighborhood close to Khyber, and patrolled the streets in vehicles mounted with machine guns.
The historic Khyber Pass provides the main road link to Afghanistan, and the region has long been known as a den for smugglers and criminals.
Islamist militants have become active in Khyber over the past year, and in recent weeks they began roaming into some neighborhoods of Peshawar.
Riding in on the back of pick-up trucks, fighters armed with Kalashnikovs have threatened owners of music and video shops to close down, and ordered barbers to stop shaving men's beards. |
