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Pakistan Talks With Taliban Resume Despite Deadly Attacks


Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan committee member and senior religious party leader Maulana Sami-ul-Haq (left) holds talks with special assistant to Pakistan's prime minister Irfan Siddiqui during a meeting in Akora Khattak on March 5.
Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan committee member and senior religious party leader Maulana Sami-ul-Haq (left) holds talks with special assistant to Pakistan's prime minister Irfan Siddiqui during a meeting in Akora Khattak on March 5.
Pakistan's government and the Taliban have resumed peace talks despite recent militant attacks.

The two sides met in the northwestern city of Akora Khattak on March 5, after the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) announced a monthlong cease-fire over the weekend.

A joint statement said the talks had entered a "crucial stage." A government representative said they had made "satisfactory" progress.

The government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif opened negotiations with the Taliban to end its bloody insurgency but the process broke down after militants killed 23 kidnapped soldiers last month.

Earlier on March 5, six troops were killed by a roadside bomb in the volatile northwest, and 11 soldiers were killed in a militant attack in Islamabad on March 3.

However, the TTP has distanced itself from the attacks.

Based on reporting by AFP and AP
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