PESHAWAR -- A faction of the Pakistani Taliban said Sunday that it executed 23 paramilitary soldiers who have been held captive since 2010, even as other elements of the militant group continue preliminary peace talks with the country's government.| Typical style of 'negotiation' -- one arm offers talks, the other arm murders. We've seen this before. No doubt the authorities will write it off to the acts of a 'splinter' group and keep talking... |
The reported killings could hurt preliminary peace talks the government is holding with the group.
| Depends on whether the government cares about its soldiers... |
There was no immediate comment Sunday from Pakistan's government or military, and Khurassani's statement could be not be independently verified. But the Taliban, which is waging a bloody insurgency aimed at instilling Islamic law in Pakistan, has killed dozens of captured or kidnapped Pakistani soldiers over the years.
Khurassani said Sunday that the 23 executed soldiers also had been captured in 2010, as they manned a checkpoint in northwest Pakistan near the Afghan border. They were killed, he claimed, because 16 militants thought to have been in prison had been found dead in various Pakistani cities in recent weeks.
If confirmed, the most recent killings could be a serious blow to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's ongoing effort to reach a negotiated settlement with Taliban militants. After months of effort, Sharif's government entered into preliminary talks with Pakistani Taliban representatives three weeks ago. Since then, however, the country's struggle against terrorism and violence has only deepened.
The statement Sunday from the Taliban's Mohmand faction, which operates out of the Mohmand district of Pakistan's tribal areas, seems all but certain to put new pressure on Sharif and Pakistan's new army chief, Raheel Sharif, to undertake a military operation against Taliban strongholds in northwestern Pakistan.