ADاشتہار / AdvertisementGoogle Ad
Kohat Ambush: 10 Police Officers Killed in KP AttackPakistan
Ten police officers were killed and 12 wounded in an ambush near Kohat as their party returned from an operation against illegal gold mining, in one of the deadliest attacks on the province’s police this year.
Share:
At least 10 police officers, including a deputy superintendent of police, were killed on Wednesday when militants ambushed a police party returning from an operation against illegal gold mining near Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Police said 18 attackers were also killed in the fighting that followed, and 12 injured officers were taken to hospital.
The attack took place in the Darabukach and Jalandhar Banda area, between Kohat and Karak districts, as the police party travelled back from a joint operation with the local civil administration against people involved in illegal gold mining. Kohat police spokesperson Muhammad Nauman Zeb said the attackers opened fire from hilltops overlooking the road, and five police vehicles were set on fire. Police returned fire, reinforcements were sent to the area, and an emergency was declared at the District Headquarters Teaching Hospital in Kohat, where the injured were taken.
ADاشتہار / AdvertisementGoogle Ad
Among those killed were Deputy Superintendent of Police Gambat Haider Zaman and Sub-Inspector Mukhtiar, the spokesperson said. Two senior officers were among the dead, according to the Associated Press, which cited a local police official.
Police blame banned group
In a statement, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police said the attackers were from Fitna al-Khawarij, the name the state uses for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. The statement said the attackers had acted at the behest of criminal elements linked to the illegal gold mining trade. Police offered no evidence for that claim, according to the Associated Press, and it should be treated as the police’s account rather than an established fact.
Hours after the attack, the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility in a statement, according to the Associated Press and AFP. The claim has not been independently verified.
Early reports differed on the police death toll. Reuters, citing a rescue group, first reported that 11 officers were feared killed, and Rescue 1122 later put the toll at 11, with 12 injured. The police-confirmed figure is at least 10 officers killed.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack, extended condolences to the families of the officers killed and paid tribute to their sacrifice. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi also condemned the attack and sought a detailed report from the police, while Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the ambush. The Kohat district police officer said the pursuit of the attackers would continue, along with the operation against the illegal mining network in the area.
The ambush is one of the deadliest single attacks on police in the province this year. Police data cited by the Associated Press of Pakistan put the number of attacks on police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 680 in the first nine months of 2026, up from 508 in the same period of 2025.
Related Coverage
