Taliban fighters again cancel truce

? For the second time in two months, a truce designed to curb militancy in the tribal areas of northwestern Pakistan was declared void this weekend by Taliban fighters.

The apparent collapse of the 18-month-old deal in the restive South Waziristan area followed the scrapping of a similar deal in neighboring North Waziristan in July, and comes as there are escalating tensions in both areas. On Sunday, the Pakistani military reported killing 15 insurgent fighters in North Waziristan.

The semiautonomous tribal region that forms Pakistan’s northwestern border with Afghanistan has long been a haven for Islamic fighters, and the United States has called it a sanctuary for al-Qaida.

Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, had focused on the peace deals as a way to combat rising extremism in his country without relying on military force.