.bmp)
.bmp)
PAKISTAN announced it was halting a major military campaign on its border with Afghanistan, launched after intense pressure from Western nations to combat Taliban rebels there.The government said the decision was being taken in deference to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts next week, with operations to cease today.Troops backed by helicopter gunships and heavy artillery have for weeks been pounding militant strongholds in the north-west, killing more than 560 people, according to officials.The announcement came a day after Pakistan's army said it had killed 40 militants in an air strike that targeted a rebel stronghold in the troubled Swat region. Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik told a news conference in the eastern city of Lahore military operations were being stopped temporarily to allow civilians to observe the religious festival."I am suspending military operations in tribal areas in the north-west in deference to the holy month of Ramadan,'' he said, warning that the army will reserve the right to retaliate if attacked."It is not a ceasefire,'' he stressed, adding: "If they fire a single bullet we will respond with 10 bullets.'' Pakistan's fragile coalition government, which pushed US ally Pervez Musharraf to resign as president on August 18 over impeachment threats, has been under heavy international pressure to combat militancy on the border.But violence linked to the country's role in the "war on terror'' has killed nearly 1,200 people in suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan in the past year.US forces say the border area is being used as a launching pad for rebel attacks on coalition troops in Afghanistan.Earlier yesterday, military spokesman Major Nasir Ali, quoting local sources, announced the numbers killed in the Swat operation, saying the toll included two senior commanders of top Taliban cleric Mullah Fazlullah.Local officials said Fazlullah, who since 2007 has been leading a violent campaign to enforce hardline Islamic Sharia law in the area, escaped the attack by fighter jets but his group suffered massive damage.As in the days of Noah...
