At least 10 police officers killed in militant ambush in Kohat
At least 10 police officers were killed on Wednesday when militants ambushed a police convoy in Kohat district, in Pakistan’s north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The officers were on their way to raid an illegal gold mining site in the Gumbat area when the attackers opened fire on them from hilltops in the Darbokach Jalandhar Banda area, between Kohat and Karak, Kohat police spokesperson Muhammad Nauman Zeb said. Five police vehicles were set on fire during the attack.
Among those killed were Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Haider Zaman of Gumbat and Sub-Inspector Mukhtiar. At least 12 officers were also injured and taken to hospital, rescue officials said. An emergency was declared at the District Headquarters Teaching Hospital in Kohat, and reinforcements were sent to the area as an exchange of fire continued.
No group had claimed responsibility by Wednesday evening. Suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has stepped up attacks on security forces in the region in recent months. The TTP is separate from the Afghan Taliban but closely allied with them.
Why it matters
This is the second major attack on police in Kohat in less than two months. On 18 September, a blast followed by an assault at Kohat Police Lines killed 17 police officers among 23 people.
The attack is part of a wider surge in violence against the police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Two security reports presented to the federal cabinet in October found that terrorist incidents in the province had risen by 195 per cent between March 2024 and September 2026, and that 73 per cent of attacks recorded in the province during 2026 targeted police and security personnel.
The pressure on the province’s police was already visible this week. On Tuesday, gunmen shot dead two police officers protecting polio vaccination teams in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a day after four officers guarding polio workers were kidnapped. The polio drive aims to reach nearly 24 million children across 97 high-risk districts.
What happens next
Security forces have launched an operation in the area, and the district police officer said it would continue until the last militant was eliminated. The death toll may still change, as officials had not released a full list of the dead and injured by Wednesday evening.
Sources
This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.
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