Negotiators representing the Pakistani government and Taliban insurgents are to meet for preliminary peace talks later Tuesday following a spate of killings, but there is skepticism about their chances of success.

Negotiators representing the Pakistani government and Taliban insurgents are to meet for preliminary peace talks later Tuesday following a spate of killings, but there is skepticism about their chances of success.

Two teams, nominated by the government and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), are due to gather in Islamabad at 2:00 pm (0900 GMT) to chart a "roadmap" for talks.

In a surprise move last week Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif named a team to begin dialogue with the militants, who have been waging a violent insurgency since 2007.

Many observers had been anticipating a military offensive against TTP strongholds in Pakistan's tribal areas, following a bloody start to the year. More than 110 people were killed in militant attacks in January, many of them military personnel.

The government team consists of senior journalists Irfan Siddiqui and Rahimullah Yusufzai, former diplomat Rustam Shah Mohmand and retired major Mohammad Aamir, formerly of the Inter Services Intelligence agency.

The Taliban side includes Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, a hardline cleric known in the West as the "Father of the Taliban", as well as the chief cleric of Islamabad's Red Mosque and two other religious party leaders.

The two sides held separate meetings in Islamabad on Monday and later decided to talk each other on Tuesday.

In the past the militants have called for their prisoners to be released and for Pakistani troops to be pulled out of the seven tribal areas along the Afghan border.