Pakistani Forces End Standoff with Militants After Deadly Attack
Security forces concluded a 20-hour operation against militants who occupied a police compound following a suicide bombing that killed 21.
Pakistani security forces on Saturday concluded a 20-hour standoff with militants inside a police compound in the country's northwest. The confrontation began Friday after a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a mosque, followed by gunmen storming the facility, killing 21 people and wounding 103.
The coordinated attack occurred at a compound in Kohat, located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which shares a border with Afghanistan. Many of the casualties were police officers and civilians present at the mosque.
Several militants took up positions within the complex, leading to a shootout with security personnel, according to police official Mohammad Sadiq. The compound houses the police's Special Branch intelligence agency, offices of the Counter Terrorism Department, and residences of counterterrorism officers who have conducted operations against militants in the province.
Sadiq stated that the operation ended after 20 hours. Security forces were conducting searches of the compound and surrounding areas. Eight attackers' bodies were recovered, local police reported. Residents heard bursts of gunfire from the compound before the operation concluded.
Two attackers detonated explosives inside the compound Saturday morning, and police had killed six assailants prior to the explosions, not including the bombers. It remained unclear if the new explosions resulted in additional casualties or how many militants were left inside.
The initial suicide attack on Friday damaged the outer wall of the police offices and the mosque. Funeral prayers for the police officers killed in the assault were held late Friday in Kohat, and their bodies, along with those of civilians, were returned to their families.
No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion is expected to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The TTP has increased its attacks on police and other security forces in recent years.
The TTP is distinct from, but allied with, Afghanistan's Taliban, which regained control in 2021. Pakistan has frequently accused the Taliban government in Kabul of harboring TTP leaders and permitting cross-border attacks, allegations that the Afghan government denies.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack in separate statements and expressed condolences for the lives lost. Zardari emphasized that eliminating militants is crucial for national security.
In a similar incident in 2023, a suicide bomber killed 101 people, predominantly police officers, at a mosque within a heavily fortified police compound in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.