The military said it had bombed the hideout of a militant leader on Sunday, killing five insurgents, only a day after the Taliban declared a one-month cease-fire to pursue stalled peace talks with the government. The target of the attack, Mullah Tamanchey, directed a deadly assault against a convoy carrying a polio vaccination team and security forces on Saturday in which 12 people were killed, the military said.
"The government is not going to tolerate any act of terror and any act will be replied to," said a Pakistani security official who asked not to be identified.
Hours after the attack on the convoy, the Taliban said they would observe a one-month cease-fire to try to revive peace talks that failed last month. It also called on other militant groups to observe the cease-fire.
A government negotiator told Reuters they were open to restarting peace talks as long as the Taliban and its affiliates honoured the cease-fire.
The Pakistani Taliban, an alliance of militant groups, says it is fighting to overthrow the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and replace it with a state ruled under strict Islamic law.
Mullah Tamanchey, the target of Sunday's bombing, is the leader of a small militia affiliated with the Taliban and opposed polio vaccination. Some militants say the health campaign is a cover for spying or a plot to sterilise Muslims.
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