Death toll from attack at police HQ in Pakistan rises to 31

KOHAT, Pakistan: The death toll from an explosion and gun attack at a police headquarters in northern Pakistan rose to at least 31, including 16 police personnel, a senior police official told AFP on Saturday (Sep 19).

“At least 31 people, including 16 police personnel, have been killed and more than 100 injured so far in the militant attack and suicide bombing,” the official said, adding that fighting was ongoing.

Attackers stormed the Old Police Lines complex at Kohat, a town of around 220,000 people in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on the afternoon of Sep 18.

The police compound serves as a district-level police headquarters, housing key offices of the Counter Terrorism Department, Special Branch and several other police units.

“Several militants are still holed up in the Special Branch section of the Kohat Police Complex,” the police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“An exchange of fire with them has been ongoing since late last night. Their exact number remains unclear,” the official added.

Pakistan has blamed the increase in attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southern border province of Balochistan on militancy emanating from Afghanistan, where the Taliban government denies Afghan involvement.

The accusations have sparked a bitter rift and armed conflict between the neighbouring countries, and Pakistan has carried out deadly air strikes it says target militants on Afghan soil.

The Taliban government in Kabul and the United Nations said dozens of civilians were killed in the latest Pakistani strikes on eastern Afghanistan in June.