Kohat mosque bombing kills 31 people, including 16 police personnel, during Friday prayers in Pakistan.
Explosives-laden car hits mosque at Kohat police headquarters before gunmen exchange fire with officers.
TTP-linked Ittehadul Mujahideen claims responsibility as Pakistan-Afghanistan tensions remain high.
At least 31 people, including 16 police personnel, were killed after an explosives-laden car was rammed into the entrance of a mosque at a police headquarters in Kohat, northwestern Pakistan, during Friday prayers. The blast was followed by a gun battle after armed attackers attempted to enter the police compound.
According to AFP, dozens of people were injured in the attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near the Afghan border. A faction of the Pakistan Taliban, known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Ittehadul Mujahideen, which means Mujahideen Alliance and is linked to Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, said it carried out the suicide bomb attack. Provincial police chief Zulfikar Hameed confirmed the suicide bombing.
After the explosion, gunmen attempted to enter the police compound and exchanged fire with officers. Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said at least six attackers were killed in the fighting.
Mosque Damaged, Dozens Injured
The mosque was badly damaged in the blast, while the outer wall of the police station collapsed. Residents said they heard the explosion from some distance away.
At least 15 bodies and more than 50 injured people were taken to hospital, Dr Tahir Shah said, according to the dpa news agency. Sources told Al Jazeera that at least 75 people were injured.
Senior rescue official Bilal Faizi said most of the wounded were worshippers, the Associated Press reported.
The bombing occurred as worshippers gathered for Friday prayers at the mosque inside the police headquarters.
Attack Follows Deadly Strike On Soldiers
The Kohat bombing came a day after a roadside bomb killed six soldiers in a security forces convoy in the northwestern Hangu district.
Government troops raided various areas on Thursday and killed 10 suspected Taliban fighters, the military and police said.
Hyder said Kohat is close to the Afghan border and is the main city en route to North Waziristan, as well as being on the way to Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan.
“Kohat is close to the Afghan border, it is the main city en route to the restive North Waziristan region, it is also on the way to Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan. Over the past few months, we’ve seen deadly attacks on all these areas,” Hyder said.
The TTP is separate from, but allied with, the Taliban, which returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021.
Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban of allowing the TTP and other groups that carry out attacks to operate from Afghan territory. Officials in Kabul deny the accusation.
The tension has seen both states launch intermittent cross-border attacks.
Pakistan-Afghanistan Tensions
AFP reported that the bombing was followed by an exchange of fire after gunmen attempted to enter the police compound.
Michael Semple, a visiting professor at Queen’s University Belfast and a former EU representative in Afghanistan who negotiated with the Afghan Taliban, said the armed groups were trying to “overthrow the Pakistan government”.
“Sophisticated attacks such as in Kohat could not be attempted without planning, logistics and training,” Semple told Al Jazeera.
“Essentially, this seems to fit into the pattern of the Afghan Taliban providing sanctuary to both al-Qaeda and different factions of the TTP to do the kind of training for this kind of attack,” he added.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the bomb attack and directed authorities to accelerate rescue operations.
The Ministry of Interior said the attackers’ “cowardly actions” could not weaken the “nation’s firm resolve”.
