Pakistan Mosque Attack Leaves 17 Dead, 40 Wounded

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - At least 17 people were killed and 40 others wounded in an apparent suicide bombing at a mosque inside a police headquarters in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, according to the latest figures obtained by Kurdistan24, as authorities investigated one of the deadliest recent attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Provincial police chief Zulfiqar Hameed said the explosion occurred at a mosque within the police headquarters in Kohat, with six police officers among those killed.

The blast reportedly struck during Friday prayers, when worshippers had gathered inside the mosque.

Hameed described the attack as a suicide bombing.

Casualty figures varied in the immediate aftermath.

Associated Press journalists Riaz Khan and Munir Ahmed reported an earlier toll of at least 15 people killed and 56 wounded, citing police and rescue officials. Senior rescue official Bilal Faizi told AP that five police officers and 10 civilians were among the dead at that stage, with some of the wounded in critical condition.

AP reported that the attacker appeared to have rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the mosque. Police also said at least two armed men attempted to enter the compound and exchanged gunfire with officers.

Images from the scene showed extensive damage to the mosque and the surrounding police complex, according to AP, including a collapsed outer wall and smoke rising over the area.

No group had immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in the supplied reporting.

AP said suspicion was likely to focus on Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, which has carried out repeated attacks against Pakistani security forces and civilians in recent years.

The TTP is separate from Afghanistan's Taliban but maintains ties with it.

Pakistan has repeatedly accused authorities in Afghanistan of allowing TTP militants to operate from Afghan territory, while the Taliban government in Kabul has rejected those allegations.

An earlier Agence France-Presse report from Kohat gave a lower preliminary toll of eight dead and 35 wounded and said investigators were still working to establish the precise nature of the explosion.

That AFP report reflected an earlier stage of the emergency response. More recent figures provided to Kurdistan24 placed the toll at 17 dead and 40 wounded.

AFP said more than 45 rescue personnel had been deployed to the Old Police Lines area of Kohat, a city of around 220,000 people.

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari expressed sorrow over the casualties and called for the elimination of militant groups threatening national security.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also condemned the attack and ordered authorities to accelerate rescue operations, AP reported.

Friday's bombing came amid heightened militant violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A day earlier, a roadside bomb struck a Pakistani security convoy in Hangu district, killing six soldiers, according to AP.

The Pakistani military also said security forces killed 10 militants in a series of operations across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa between Tuesday and Thursday.

The latest violence follows years of attacks targeting police, soldiers and government installations in the province.

In 2023, a suicide bomber killed 101 people at a mosque in Peshawar, the provincial capital, in an attack that largely targeted police personnel.

The worsening security environment has also contributed to growing tensions between Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, with Islamabad linking militant activity inside Pakistan to groups it says operate from across the border.

The supplied reporting indicates that authorities were continuing to investigate Friday's attack in Kohat, including the method used and whether additional assailants were involved.

For now, the bombing has once again placed Pakistan's northwestern security forces at the center of an escalating militant threat, with police officers and civilian worshippers among the latest casualties.