ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Militants in a restive tribal area of northwest Pakistan attacked an army checkpost and killed a soldier just hours after the government cancelled a round of talks with the Taliban, a security official said Tuesday, February 18.
The peace talks are in crisis two weeks after they began following a claim from a Taliban faction on Sunday, February 16, that they had executed 23 soldiers who were kidnapped in June 2010.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called the deaths “heinous” on Monday and warned they would impact attempts at reconciliation, while government peace negotiators pulled out of scheduled talks.
The checkpost attack came overnight Monday in the Ladha area of South Waziristan.
“A soldier embraced shahdat (martyrdom) due to terrorist fire last night on a security forces checkpost in Ladha,” a senior security official said.
South Waziristan is one of the semi-autonomous tribal regions where Taliban and Al-Qaeda linked militants have carved out their hideouts leading to a series of military offensives.
A faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from the northwestern district of Mohmand claimed on Sunday night they had killed the 23 paramilitaries whom they seized nearly four years ago near the Afghan border.
The paramilitary soldiers from the Frontier Corps (FC) vanished after the Taliban attacked their checkpost in Mohmand tribal district on June 17, 2010. – Rappler.com
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.