Vehicle bomb hits Kohat mosque near police compound, killing at least 21

A vehicle bomb exploded at a mosque in northwestern Pakistan on Friday as armed gunmen tried to storm a police compound, killing at least 21 people and wounding 80 others, according to police and rescue officials.

Among the dead and injured were police officers who had gathered at the mosque for prayers, officials said. Hospital authorities reported that most of those killed were policemen.

The attack took place in Kohat, a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The provincial police chief, Zulfiqar Hameed, said an attacker appeared to have rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the mosque.

At least seven gunmen also tried to enter the police compound and exchanged fire with officers. Six of the attackers were killed, police said, adding that a suicide bomber targeted the nearby office of an intelligence agency.

The compound housed counter-terrorism police, a unit that has conducted operations against militants across the province in recent years.

Wounded victims were brought to Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar. Muhammad Tariq Khan Burki, the hospital's director, said five injured people had been received so far — four policemen and one civilian — and that they were being treated with all available resources.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and expressed sorrow over the casualties, directing authorities to speed up rescue operations.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, though suspicion was likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP.

The assault was the latest in a surge of militant violence near the border with Afghanistan, where Pakistani Taliban militants have increasingly targeted police and other security forces as the government intensifies operations against them.

It came a day after a roadside bomb struck a security forces convoy in the northwestern Hangu district, killing six soldiers. Government troops also carried out raids in various areas on Thursday, killing 10 militants believed to be members of the Pakistani Taliban, the military and police said.

The TTP has stepped up attacks on police and civilians in recent years. In 2023, a suicide bomber killed 101 people inside a mosque in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The group is separate from but allied with Afghanistan's Taliban, which returned to power in 2021. Pakistan often accuses Kabul of sheltering the TTP and ignoring cross-border militant attacks, allegations the Afghan government has denied.

Tensions between the two countries have remained high since Pakistan targeted alleged TTP hideouts in Afghanistan in 2025. The strikes triggered border clashes, prompting Qatar and Turkey to mediate a ceasefire. China later facilitated peace talks, but the two sides failed to reach an agreement.