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On Thursday, Pakistani jet fighters attacked several Taliban hideouts in the lawless north-western tribal belt, killing at least twelve suspected militants, officials said. This is the first time the military has launched air strikes on the Taliban since their ceasefire agreement to help with the peace talks on March 1. According to security sources, at least twelve militants were killed, but the death toll could increase.
Last week, the Taliban had said that it would be ending the ceasefire because of the minimal progress it made with the government in their negotiations. Since their announcement, up to seven people have died in several militant attacks in the north-western belt. The air strikes on Thursday were in the mountainous part of the Khyber tribal district, where the banned group Lashkar-e-Islam and the Taliban are active.
The Lashkar-e-Islam is led by the warlord Mangal Bagh and feared for extortions and kidnappings in Khyber, one the seven ungoverned tribal districts along Afghanistan’s border. Another security official said that the strikes targeted the militants involved in the bombings in the town Charsadda and a fruit and vegetable market is the city of Islamabad, which killed 24 people. Officials say that ground troops used heavy weapons to crush the militant targets.
Pakistan has been in talks with the Taliban since February, to try and end its seven-year insurgency, which has resulted in the deaths of several thousands. According to a Taliban negotiator, Taliban and government negotiators had on Tuesday met in Islamabad to begin another round of talks in order to start a fresh ceasefire. The Taliban had started its campaign of violence in and around Pakistan in 2007, and since has resulted in the deaths of over 6,800 people gun and bomb attacks.
