At least 22 people, including 15 police officials, were martyred on Friday when an explosives-laden vehicle detonated near a mosque in Kohat Police Lines, followed by terrorists storming the compound and attacking police facilities, according to senior police and district health officials.
District Health Officer Dr Nasir Hassan Afridi confirmed the toll to Dawn, adding that more than 80 people were injured, with three in critical condition.
According to officials, SP Traffic Akbar Shinwari and Dr Israel Orakzai, head of the children’s department at DHQ KDA Kohat, were among those martyred in the attack.According to police, at least one attacker was holed up inside the compound and a clearance operation was underway.
Meanwhile, the CTD said the Additional IG CTD reached the site of the Kohat attack. An exchange of fire between CTD personnel and the terrorists was ongoing, the department said, adding that the AIG had entered the site himself to take part in the operation and lead the personnel.fifteen police officers and a four-year-old child are among those killed in the attack, which also involved gunmen opening fire within a police facility in the city of Kohat in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported.
Video found by BBC Verify shows the site covered in rubble and people tending to casualties.
Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari expressed "his best wishes for the swift recovery of those injured in the explosion" in a statement.
The blast is reported to have occurred around 13:15 local time (08:15 GMT) while Friday prayers were taking place.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police Insp Gen Zulfikar Hameed described it as a "suicide attack", according to news agency Reuters, which also reported that police had confirmed all seven attackers had been killed in the explosion and the gun battle that followed.
A police spokesperson said the seven armed militants attempted to infiltrate the police facility following the blast, according to the APP.No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif condemned the blast.
Militancy in Pakistan's border areas has risen sharply in recent months, with armed groups targeting the military and police.
Islamabad says militants use Afghanistan as a safe haven to train and plan attacks in Pakistan. Afghanistan's Taliban government denies the accusation and says militant groups are a domestic problem for Pakistan.