Gunmen kill 10 police officers in northwestern Pakistan

On Wednesday, gunmen attacked a police convoy that was heading to an illegal gold mining site in northwestern Pakistan, killing 10 police officers, according to officials, while 18 gunmen were killed in the clashes that followed, according to police.

A statement issued by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province Police in Pakistan said that police officers were returning from a mine in the Gombat area of ​​Kohat Province when they were fired upon by gunmen. He added that in addition to the killing of 10 police officers and 18 militants, 12 police officers were wounded.

Following the clashes, the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for a series of attacks across the country, including an attack targeting a police convoy in the Gombat district. Earlier, a local official told Agence France-Presse that the gunmen set fire to two police vehicles during the attack, while two other police vehicles and a private car were lost.

Another official in Orakzai district of Kohat said that 10 militants belonging to the Pakistani Taliban were killed during a separate operation in the district, adding that a large quantity of weapons were also seized from the possession of the militants.

Security forces in the border region are facing an escalation in armed attacks that Pakistan says are emanating from Afghan territory, while the Afghan Taliban government denies this.

A spokesman for a local emergency authority had reported earlier on Wednesday that there had been a “shooting incident involving police officers” in the Kohat area, noting that rescue teams were working to treat about 12 injured policemen.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been tense since the Taliban came to power in 2021, and the crisis worsened following border clashes that caused deaths in October last year, leading to the border being almost completely closed.

Although the pace of clashes decreased following mediation efforts, the conflict worsened in February with Pakistan declaring “open war” against its neighbor. Hundreds of civilians have been killed as a result of the ongoing battles between the two countries since October of last year, according to figures from the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan.

Earlier this month, gunmen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province killed two police officers who were assigned to protect a polio vaccination team while it was traveling near the Afghan border. A state of emergency was declared in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province last month in a move justified by the authorities as a response to the state government's failure to take action against the insurgency.

The imposition of these emergency measures led to the marginalization of the last stronghold of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, led by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

These exceptional constitutional measures led to a large-scale campaign across the state against Imran Khan’s supporters, resulting in the arrest of hundreds of them.

On Wednesday, gunmen attacked a Pakistani police convoy that was heading to an illegal gold mining site in northwestern Pakistan, killing eight officers, according to officials.

An administrative official in the Kohat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province told Agence France-Presse that 8 police officers were killed while 13 others were injured. The gunmen set fire to two vehicles during the attack, while two other police vehicles and a private car were lost.

The same official said that the police officers were on their way to an illegal gold extraction site near Gombat.

No party immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in the border area, where security forces are facing an escalation in armed attacks, which Pakistan says are emanating from Afghan territory, while the Afghan Taliban government denies this.

A spokesman for a local emergency authority had reported, earlier on Wednesday, that there had been a “shooting incident involving police officers” in the Kohat area, noting that rescue teams were working to treat about 12 injured policemen.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been tense since the Taliban came to power in 2021, and the crisis worsened following border clashes that caused deaths in October last year, leading to the complete closure of the border.

Although the pace of clashes decreased following mediation efforts, the conflict worsened in February with Pakistan declaring “open war” against its neighbor. Hundreds of civilians have been killed as a result of battles between the two countries since October last year, according to figures from the United Nations mission in Afghanistan.

Earlier this month, gunmen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province killed two police officers who were assigned to protect a polio vaccination team while it was traveling near the Afghan border.

A state of emergency was declared in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province last month, in a move that the authorities justified as “a response to the state government’s failure to take action against the insurgency.”

The imposition of emergency measures led to the marginalization of the last stronghold of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, led by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

These exceptional constitutional measures also led to a widespread campaign across the state against Imran Khan's supporters, resulting in the arrest of hundreds of them.