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Post by Frenchie on Apr 23, 2009 16:41:43 GMT 1
Unidentified gunmen attacked Pakistani paramilitary troops who deployed on Thursday to a district virtually taken over by the Taliban, a day after Washington said Islamabad had abdicated to militants in the region.
Around 100 paramilitary troops were sent to Buner district, not far from Islamabad, police said. Soon after they arrived, militants attacked their convoy, killing a policeman escorting them, said Arsala Khan, a deputy police superintendent.
"A platoon of the Frontier Corps has arrived in Buner to help police maintain security in the district," Khan told Reuters.
Surging violence across Pakistan and the spread of Taliban influence in the country's northwest has revived concerns about the stability of the nuclear-armed state, which is crucial to U.S. efforts to stabilise neighbouring Afghanistan.
After failing to quell the Taliban through force, President Asif Ali Zardari last week approved enforcement of Islamic sharia law in the Swat valley and adjoining areas despite criticism from Western countries and Pakistani liberal and rights groups.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday the government had abdicated to the Taliban by agreeing to the Swat deal, adding the country now posed a "mortal threat" to the world.
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