The initial death toll from the bombing and armed attack on the historic police compound in Kohat, northern Pakistan, has risen to at least 31, including 16 police officers, with more than 100 people injured, as clashes with attackers inside the facility continued, a police official said on Saturday.
The official said that ‘at least 31 people, including 16 police officers’, had been killed, while more than 100 others had been injured by that point in the armed attack and suicide bombing. He said fighting was still under way inside the targeted security compound. According to officials, the attacker rammed a car bomb into the police facility on Friday afternoon, while police personnel and members of their families were praying inside a mosque.
The targeted police compound and its security role
The blast took place on the grounds of the historic police headquarters in Kohat, a city of about 220,000 people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in the north of the country. The targeted compound is the district police headquarters and houses the main offices of the Counter-Terrorism Department and Special Branch, along with several other police units, making it a major security site in the city.
A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said several attackers ‘were still holed up inside the Special Branch section of the Kohat police compound’, adding that their number was not known. He said an exchange of fire with them had continued since late the previous night.
No claim of responsibility and presidential condolences
No group had claimed responsibility for the attack at that point, while the area has seen violence carried out by the Pakistani Taliban. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari expressed sorrow over the deaths and wished those injured in the blast a speedy recovery.
Pakistan blames militant groups that it says are based in Afghanistan for the escalation in attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the southern border province of Balochistan. The Taliban government, meanwhile, denies any Afghan involvement. The accusations have led to a sharp dispute and armed clashes between the neighbouring countries, while Pakistan has also carried out air strikes that it said targeted militants inside Afghan territory.
