A coalition of Taliban militants in northwestern Pakistan declared an “indefinite” ceasefire on Wednesday in fighting against security forces. The Government said it was preparing for peace talks.

Meanwhile, a Pakistani Army helicopter crashed in the same region, killing three generals and five other soldiers. The Army said initial reports indicated a technical fault in the chopper and ruled out hostile fire as the cause.

Maulvi Mohammed Umar, a spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, a militant umbrella group, said the ceasefire would cover the lawless, semiautonomous tribal belt that borders Afghanistan, and the restive region of Swat where the Army also has battled pro-Taliban fighters.

Any agreement by Pakistan to a ceasefire would likely be frowned on by its Western allies.

A truce in North Waziristan in September 2006, which collapsed the following July, was widely seen as giving Taliban and al-Qaeda a freer hand to stage cross-border attacks into Afghanistan and expand their reach inside Pakistan.

Tehrik-e-Taliban is led by Baitullah Mehsud, an al-Qaeda-linked militant commander based in South Waziristan and blamed by the Government for a series of suicide attacks across Pakistan — including the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

“The Government has shown leniency over the past four or five days,” Maulvi Umar said over the telephone. “That’s why we are declaring a ceasefire.”

“The declaration of war we made against security forces on orders by Baitullah Mehsud. We now withdraw that for an indefinite period,” Umar told The Associated Press by telephone. He said the ceasefire was the result of talks with the Government.

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