At least 28 people were killed, including 10 police officers and 18 fighters, when gunmen attacked police returning from an operation against illegal gold mining in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, provincial police said on Wednesday. The ambush took place in the Gumbat area of Kohat district as the officers were leaving a mine site; 12 police personnel were also wounded, and the Pakistani Taliban later claimed responsibility for the assault.
Key Takeaways: The attack killed 10 police officers and 18 fighters and wounded 12 police personnel in Kohat district. The Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, claimed the assault hours after the shooting, while a separate operation in the Orakzai area of Kohat killed 10 fighters and led to weapons recovery. The violence underscores a renewed security challenge in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where Pakistan says attacks are launched from Afghan territory, a charge Kabul denies.
According to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police statement, the officers were targeted as they returned from a mine in Gumbat on Wednesday. A senior administrative official in Kohat told AFP that fighters set two police vehicles on fire, while two other police vehicles and one private vehicle were missing after the attack. A local emergency service spokesman said rescue workers were treating a dozen wounded officers, and officials later reported the deaths and injuries with updated figures.
Hours after the ambush, the Pakistani Taliban issued a statement claiming the attack. A senior administrative official in the Orakzai area of Kohat said 10 fighters belonging to the Pakistan Taliban were killed in a separate operation in the district, and a large quantity of weapons was recovered from them. The TTP, formerly known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, is separate from but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban, which returned to power in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021.
Security forces are battling intensifying violence in the border province that they say emanates from Afghanistan, an accusation the Taliban government in Kabul rejects. Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been fraught since the Afghan Taliban retook power, and worsened after deadly border clashes in October last year that led to a near-total closure of the border. Pakistan frequently accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of sheltering TTP fighters; Kabul denies the allegation. The UN mission in Afghanistan says hundreds of civilians have been killed in fighting between the two countries over the past year.
The latest attack is likely to increase pressure on Pakistan’s security agencies to reinforce patrols and intelligence operations around mining sites and remote districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Officials have not yet announced a full investigation or confirmed whether the missing vehicles have been recovered, and further operations are expected in the Kohat and Orakzai areas. The broader challenge remains cross-border militancy, with Pakistan pressing Kabul to act against armed groups and the Taliban government continuing to reject responsibility.
Source: www.aljazeera.com