A deadly assault on a police headquarters in northern Pakistan intensified Friday, with local officials reporting that the toll from an explosion and subsequent gun attack has climbed to at least 31.
“At least 31 people, including 16 police personnel, have been killed and more than 100 injured so far in the militant attack,” the official said, adding that fighting was ongoing.
The violence erupted when attackers forced their way into the Old Police Lines complex in Kohat, a town of about 220,000 people in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, on Friday afternoon.
Officials said the assailants drove a vehicle packed with explosives into the facility as police officers and their relatives were gathered for prayers inside a mosque.
A local militant organisation, Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan — described as a faction linked to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Pakistani Taliban — has claimed responsibility.
The targeted compound functions as the district-level police headquarters and contains major offices including the Counter Terrorism Department and the Special Branch, along with several other police units.
“Several militants are still holed up in the Special Branch section of the Kohat Police Complex,” said a police official.
“An exchange of fire with them has been ongoing since late last night. Their exact number remains unclear,” the official added.
Security officials inspect the site of the blast
The attack comes as Pakistan says militant violence has been rising in the region, which it blames on fighters operating from neighbouring Afghanistan — an allegation the Taliban government has rejected.
Those claims have sharpened friction between the two countries, with Pakistan conducting airstrikes it says are aimed at militants in Afghanistan.
The Taliban government and the United Nations have said dozens of civilians were killed in Pakistani strikes in eastern Afghanistan in June.
