At least 16 people were killed and 57 others wounded after a suicide attacker drove an explosives-laden vehicle into a police compound in Kohat, northwestern Pakistan, on Friday, officials said.
Five police officers were among those killed in the attack, according to provincial police chief Zulfikar Hameed. The attacker rammed the vehicle into the compound’s outer wall while police officers and their families were offering prayers at a mosque inside the facility.
Seven attackers were killed in the blast and a subsequent gunfight with security forces, police said.
Videos released by rescuers showed extensive damage to the compound’s boundary wall following the explosion. Emergency workers and local residents were seen pulling injured people from the debris as ambulances rushed to the scene.
Several victims were seen lying on the road, while people in blood-stained clothing attempted to provide assistance to the wounded.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a region that has experienced a sharp rise in militant violence in recent months.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the country’s main Pakistani Taliban umbrella group, later issued a statement distancing itself from the attack.
Pakistan’s Interior Ministry condemned the assault, saying the attackers’ actions would not weaken the country’s resolve against militancy.
Militant attacks in Pakistan’s border regions have increased in recent months, with security forces, particularly the military and police, frequently targeted.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused militants of using safe havens in Afghanistan to plan and train for attacks in Pakistan. Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities have rejected the allegations and maintained that militancy inside Pakistan is an internal issue for Islamabad to address.
