Pakistani Forces End 20-Hour Standoff After Deadly Attack on Kohat Police Complex

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistani security forces concluded a roughly 20-hour operation Saturday to clear militants who had taken positions inside a police compound in Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials said.

The assault began Friday when a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden vehicle into a mosque inside the compound, and gunmen then stormed the facility. Authorities said 21 people were killed and 103 wounded; many of the casualties were police personnel and worshippers attending prayers.

Local residents look at damages at the site following a bomb explosion at a mosque in Kohat, in northwestern Pakistan, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)(AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

Police official Mohammad Sadiq said attackers occupied parts of the complex and engaged in a prolonged shootout with security forces. The compound houses the police Special Branch intelligence office, Counter Terrorism Department offices and residences of counterterrorism officers who have carried out operations against militants across the province.

Sadiq said the clearance operation concluded after about 20 hours. Local police reported recovering the bodies of eight attackers, and officials said police had killed six assailants so far, not including the suicide bombers. Two attackers detonated explosives inside the compound Saturday morning; it was unclear whether those later blasts caused additional casualties.

Local residents look at damage at the site following a bomb explosion at a mosque in Kohat, in northwestern Pakistan, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)(AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

The initial suicide blast collapsed an outer wall of the police offices and heavily damaged the mosque. Residents reported hearing bursts of gunfire as reinforcements arrived during the operation.

Funeral prayers for police officers killed in the assault were held late Friday at the police lines in Kohat, and the bodies of the slain officers and civilians were returned to their families for burial, Sadiq said.

Rescue workers transport an injured victim of a bomb explosion to a hospital in Kohat, in northwestern Pakistan, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)(AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the coordinated attack, but officials said suspicion would likely fall on Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has escalated strikes on police and security forces in recent years. The TTP is separate from but allied with Afghanistan's Taliban, which returned to power in 2021; Pakistan frequently accuses Kabul of sheltering TTP leaders and allowing militants to carry out cross-border attacks, an allegation Afghanistan's government denies.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued separate statements condemning the assault and expressing sorrow over the deaths. Zardari said eliminating militant networks remained essential to national security.

An Army soldier examines damage at the site after a bomb exploded at a mosque in Kohat, in northwestern Pakistan, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)(AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

The attack drew comparisons to a 2023 suicide bombing at a mosque inside a fortified police compound in Peshawar that killed more than 100 people, mostly police officers, underscoring the persistent threat to security forces in the province.

Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Rasool Dawar in Peshawar and Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan contributed to this report.