A Taliban spokesman in Pakistan says Taliban leaders have not
instructed fighters to halt attacks during Ramadan, despite the
government's announcement that it is suspending military operations in
the northwest to allow civilians to observe the holy month.
A Taliban spokesman in restive Swat Valley Muslim Khan said on Sunday, as of now, militants have no plans to change their tactics.
The head of Pakistan's Interior Ministry Rehman Malik announced
Saturday that there will be no military operations in the tribal areas
bordering Afghanistan from Sunday midnight until October second. He
warned, however, that security forces will respond if attacked.
In other news, another Pakistan Taliban spokesman, Maulvi Omar, said
the militants will release six of the 30 paramilitary troops they are
holding as a gesture of goodwill.
In violence on Sunday, sources in northwest Pakistan report at least 60 people have been killed in fresh clashes (in Kurram Agency) between warring tribes and Taliban militants.
Pakistani media quote unnamed sources as saying at least three-quarters
of the dead are militants. Another 130 people are reported to have been
wounded in the fighting near the border with Afghanistan.
Rival Bangush and Turi tribes have been battling for weeks, and militants have joined that fight.
In another development, security officials in northwest Pakistan say at
least five people were killed in an apparent missile strike along the
Afghan border. They say most, if not all, of the dead are foreign
militants, including Uzbeks.
Residents in the village of Tapi in North Waziristan say an apparent missile destroyed a house on Sunday that was believed to be linked to militants. They say they saw a drone (a pilotless aircraft) shortly before the explosion.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the blast. But the
United States has used pilotless drone aircraft to target militants
along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan in the past.