PESHAWAR: The Pakistani Taliban has ruled out any possibility of peace negotiations with the Pakistani government, a spokesman for the banned militant group said Monday, vowing to continue fighting until the ouster of the country’s ‘secular rulers’.

Reacting to a statement by Federal Interior Minister issued Sunday, a spokesman for the banned Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Ehsanullah Ehsan rejected any prospects of peace talks with the government, accusing the interior minister Malik of being “a foreign agent not worthy of granting forgiveness to the Taliban”.

The TTP spokesman further said that the organisation would continue their fighting until “the ouster of secular rulers imposed by foreign forces to rule an Islamic country”, adding that the TTP was striving for the creation of “an independent state governed by Islamic Sharia law, upon which the foundations of Pakistan were laid”.

Bomb targets police in Peshawar

In another incident, a bomb exploded near a security checkpost at Achini Cross in Peshawar’s suburban area of Sarband.

The blast targeting a police vehicle was carried out using a remote-controlled improvised explosive device (IED), security sources confirmed.

Three security personnel suffered minor injuries whereas a police mobile sustained partial damages in the attack.

Security personnel cordoned off the area as investigations in the attack went underway.