Gunmen killed 10 police officers in a Kohat police attack on Wednesday, according to Al Jazeera. The officers were returning from an operation against illegal gold mining in Kohat district, in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. The Pakistani Taliban issued a statement hours later claiming the attack, according to The Hindu.
Provincial police said 18 fighters were killed in the ensuing violence and 12 police personnel were wounded, according to Al Jazeera. KP Police said the attack happened as officers returned from a joint operation with the local civil administration in the Darabukach locality near Kohat city, and that 18 khawarij were killed, according to Dawn. Dawn also reported that Deputy Superintendent of Police Haidar Zaman was among the dead, according to images KP Police shared on X.
The sources give different locations for the operation. Al Jazeera says officers were returning from a mine in the Gumbat area of Kohat district. Dawn, citing the KP Police statement, places the joint operation in Darabukach. It is unclear whether the two reports describe the same site.
A senior administrative official in Kohat told AFP that fighters set two police vehicles on fire, and that two other police vehicles and one private vehicle were missing, Al Jazeera reported. No police confirmation of these details has been reported.
A separate operation in the Orakzai area of Kohat killed 10 Pakistan Taliban fighters, according to a senior administrative official cited by Al Jazeera. The official said a large quantity of weapons was recovered. Police and no other outlet have confirmed this operation.
The KP Police statement said the attackers acted ‘at the behest of criminal elements’. This claim has not been independently verified.
Security forces say violence in the border province emanates from Afghanistan, an accusation the Taliban government in Kabul rejects. The Pakistani Taliban, also known as the TTP, has stepped up attacks on security forces in the region in recent months. Pakistan frequently accuses Kabul of sheltering TTP fighters, which Kabul denies.
KP has been under governor’s rule and emergency since October 11, when the federal government acted citing the PTI-led provincial government’s ‘deliberate disengagement’ from counterterrorism, according to Dawn.
KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has sought a detailed report on the incident. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari have condemned the attack. Further official findings and any security response have not yet been reported.
The main gaps are that the vehicle fires and the Orakzai operation rest on Al Jazeera alone. The Hindu reported an exchange of fire was ongoing but found no later update on the outcome. Kabul’s response to this specific attack has not been reported.
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This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.