A deadly militant attack on a police post in northwestern Pakistan resulted in the deaths of 11 police officers, according to government officials and police reports confirmed early Thursday. The incident took place at the Khazina police post located in the Hangu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, an area that shares a border with Afghanistan.
During the hourlong gunbattle that followed the initial assault, security forces successfully killed 15 militants. According to police official Irfan Khan, the attackers utilized heavy weaponry to target the station. A provincial police statement detailed that the violence escalated when reinforcements dispatched to the scene were ambushed while en route. During this ambush, an armored personnel carrier was damaged before the officers managed to fight back against the attackers.
Among the casualties was Diyar Khan, a senior police officer who had been leading the reinforcement team to the post. Additionally, more than two dozen police officers sustained injuries during the engagement.
While no organization has immediately claimed responsibility for the assault, authorities suspect the involvement of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. This group has significantly increased its attacks on Pakistani security forces throughout the region in recent months. Pakistan has experienced a surge in militant violence, much of which is attributed to the TTP—a group that maintains close ties to the Afghan Taliban, who returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021. The government in Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban of providing sanctuary to TTP militants, an allegation that Kabul denies.
