Friday prayers turned deadly in northwest Pakistan when a vehicle loaded with explosives struck the entrance of a mosque situated within a police headquarters compound in Kohat, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa near the border with Afghanistan. Gunmen then attempted to force their way into the compound, setting off a prolonged exchange of gunfire with police.
Death Toll And Casualties
The attack killed at least 27 people, among them six civilians and 15 police officers, while dozens more were left wounded. According to Dr. Tahir Shah, cited by the DPA news agency, hospitals received at least 15 bodies along with more than 50 injured; Al Jazeera separately reported sources putting the wounded count as high as 75.
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Senior rescue official Bilal Faizi told the Associated Press that most of the injured were people who had come to pray. The explosion tore through the mosque structure and brought down part of the police station's perimeter wall, with the sound reportedly carrying to nearby neighborhoods.
Responsibility Claimed By TTP-Linked Group
A group calling itself Ittehadul Mujahideen - tied to Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur and part of the broader Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan network — said it carried out the bombing. Provincial police chief Zulfikar Hameed confirmed a suicide bomber was behind the blast.
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A Pattern Of Regional Violence
Hyder pointed out that Kohat sits on a strategically important corridor, forming a gateway toward North Waziristan and lying along the route to Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan - all locations that have experienced repeated deadly violence in recent months. Islamabad has long accused Afghanistan's Taliban government of tolerating TTP activity within its borders, a claim Kabul rejects. Though allied with the Afghan Taliban, the TTP functions as a distinct organization; the Afghan group has governed the country since retaking power in 2021.
Michael Semple, a visiting professor at Queen's University Belfast who previously served as an EU representative negotiating with the Afghan Taliban, said the level of coordination behind an attack like this one doesn't happen without real planning and training infrastructure. Groups carrying out such attacks, he told Al Jazeera, are ultimately working to "overthrow the Pakistan government," and he pointed to what he sees as continued Afghan Taliban sanctuary for both al-Qaeda and TTP elements as the likely source of that training.
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Part Of A Broader Wave Of Attacks
The mosque bombing came a day after a roadside explosive killed six soldiers traveling in a security convoy in the nearby Hangu district. Pakistani forces responded with raids on Thursday that left 10 suspected Taliban fighters dead, military and police officials said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned Friday's attack and ordered authorities to move quickly on rescue efforts. Pakistan's Ministry of Interior said the resolve of the nation would not be shaken by what it called the attackers' cowardly actions.
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