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Fighting Intensifies in Northwestern Pakistan, Straining Peace Deal
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By VOA News
04 May 2009
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Pakistani officials say fighting has intensified between government
troops and Taliban militants in a northwestern region, further
straining a three-month old peace deal.
Officials say Pakistani
soldiers killed seven militants, including a commander, on Monday in
the Buner district of North West Frontier Province. In the nearby Swat
Valley, the Taliban claimed responsibility for an ambush on an army
convoy that killed a soldier.
The casualties could not be independently confirmed.
Pakistani
authorities imposed a curfew on Swat's main town of Mingora Monday,
accusing militants of violating the peace deal by attacking security
forces and resuming street patrols. But, the Pakistani military said it
would honor the peace deal by exercising restraint in Swat.
Under
the deal, Pakistani authorities agreed to impose Islamic law in Swat
and other parts of the Malakand region in return for an end to
insurgent violence.
Pakistani troops launched an offensive
against the Taliban last month after militants in Swat tried to impose
their strict brand of Islam on Buner, 100 kilometers from Pakistan's
capital, Islamabad.
The Taliban accuses Pakistan's government of
violating the peace deal by attacking militants. The Islamist group
also rejects the government's creation of an Islamic court in Malakand
on Saturday, saying it was not consulted.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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