ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani government committee tasked with negotiating with the local Taliban Monday cancelled a scheduled round of talks after militants claimed to have killed 23 soldiers in their captivity, a government official said, throwing peace efforts into crisis.

There was no point meeting the Pakistani Taliban’s representatives after the deaths were announced, said Irfan Sadiqui, a member of the government’s four-man committee. Sadiqui is also an adviser to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has advocated negotiations over military action as a way to end the years of bloodshed in the country’s northwest.

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