ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani Taliban fighters announced a ceasefire on Wednesday after months of clashes with security forces and suicide attacks across the northwest of the country.
Military spokesmen were not immediately available forcomment but security officials in South Waziristan said therehave been contacts with militants in tribal strongholds of thePakistani Taliban.
"The government has shown leniency over the past four orfive days," Maulvi Omar, a spokesman for Tehrik-e-TalibanPakistan, or the Taliban Movement of Pakistan, told Reuters bytelephone.
"That's why we are declaring a ceasefire."
Omar said the decision to call a ceasefire was taken at ashura, or council meeting, chaired by Baitullah Mehsud, theleader of the Pakistani Taliban and a prime suspect in theassassination of pro-Western opposition leader Benazir Bhuttoin late December.
(Reporting by Zeeshan Haider; editing by Simon-CameronMoore)
