Ambush in Kohat Kills 10 Police Officers, Including a Deputy Superintendent

At least 10 police officers were killed on Wednesday when militants ambushed a police team in Kohat district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwestern Pakistan, officials said. Two senior officers were among the dead.

The attack took place in the Darbokach Jalandhar Banda area, between Kohat and Karak districts, Kohat police spokesperson Muhammad Nauman Zeb said. The team was taking part in an operation against illegal gold mining in the Gambat area of Kohat when it came under fire.

Zeb identified Deputy Superintendent of Police Gambat Haider Zaman and Sub-Inspector Mukhtiar among those killed, according to reports of his statement. An intense exchange of fire followed the ambush and was still going on when local police official Faisal Khan spoke to reporters, the United News of Bangladesh reported.

Police say 18 attackers were killed

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police later said the police party was returning after completing the operation when it came under attack. In its statement, reported by Sabah News, the force said its personnel fought back and killed 18 attackers, while 10 police personnel were killed in the exchange.

The police statement linked the attackers to criminal elements involved in illegal mining. It said facilitators and criminal networks would not be spared. The statement added that the officers killed in the attack belonged to Kohat district.

An earlier statement from Rescue 1122 had put the number of police killed at 11 and the number injured at 12, Sabah News reported. The later police account put the confirmed police death toll at 10. The injured were taken to hospital in Kohat, according to reports of the rescue statement.

No claim of responsibility

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Suspicion fell on the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which has stepped up attacks on security forces in the region bordering Afghanistan, the United News of Bangladesh reported.

Pakistan has seen a surge in militant violence in recent years, largely attributed to the TTP. The group is separate from the Afghan Taliban but closely allied with it. Islamabad has often accused the Taliban government in Kabul of giving TTP fighters safe haven in Afghanistan, an allegation Kabul denies.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi condemned the attack and asked the police for a detailed report, The Express Tribune reported through local coverage of his statement. He directed that those involved be brought to justice.

The ambush is one of the deadliest single attacks on police in the province this year. It came during a routine enforcement operation, not a military offensive, and it left a district police force counting officers from its own ranks among the dead.