Ten police officers, 18 fighters killed in northwest Pakistan attack
Gunmen attacked police officers conducting an operation against illegal gold mining in northwestern Pakistan, killing 10 officers and 18 fighters, authorities said.
Officers were returning from a mine in the Gumbat area of Kohat district when fighters opened fire on them, according to provincial police. In addition to the dozens killed, 12 police personnel were wounded in the violence.
Hours after the attack, the Pakistani Taliban issued a statement claiming responsibility for the assault. The group, formerly known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, has stepped up attacks on security forces in the region in recent months.
Attack details
A senior administrative official in Kohat told AFP that fighters had set two police vehicles on fire during the assault, while two other police vehicles and one private vehicle were missing. Another official confirmed that 10 fighters belonging to the Pakistan Taliban were killed during a separate operation in the Orakzai area.
A spokesman for a local emergency service said rescue workers were treating a dozen wounded officers from the "firing incident involving police personnel." A large quantity of weapons was also recovered from the fighters.
Regional tensions
Security forces are battling intensifying violence in the border province that they say emanates from Afghanistan, an accusation the Taliban government in Kabul rejects. Pakistan has seen a surge in violence in recent years, much of it blamed on the TTP.
Pakistan frequently accuses Afghanistan's Taliban government of sheltering TTP fighters, an allegation Kabul denies.
The Pakistan Taliban is separate from but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban, who returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021. Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been fraught since then, particularly after deadly border clashes in October last year that led to near-total closure of the border.
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