At least 16 people were killed and 57 wounded on Friday after a suicide attacker drove an explosives-laden vehicle into a police compound in Kohat, northwestern Pakistan, officials said.

The attacker rammed the vehicle into the compound’s outer wall while police officers and their families were praying at a mosque inside the facility. Five police officers were among those killed, according to provincial police chief Zulfikar Hameed.

After the explosion breached the wall, several gunmen accompanying the attacker opened fire inside the compound. Police said all seven attackers were killed in the explosion and the gun battle that followed.

Rescue footage showed extensive damage to the compound, with sections of the boundary wall destroyed by the blast. Emergency workers and residents were seen attempting to pull wounded people from the debris as ambulances arrived at the scene.

Images and videos from the aftermath showed injured people lying on the road while others, some with bloodstained clothing, tried to assist the victims.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Kohat is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a northwestern province that has experienced a rise in attacks by Islamist militants targeting security forces.

Pakistan’s Interior Ministry condemned the attack, saying the actions of the attackers would not weaken the country’s resolve.

Militancy has increased sharply in Pakistan’s border regions in recent months, with police and military personnel frequently targeted. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban, issued a statement denying responsibility for Friday’s attack.

Pakistan’s government has accused militants of using safe havens in Afghanistan to train and plan attacks inside Pakistan. Afghanistan’s Taliban government has rejected the accusation and said militancy in Pakistan is an internal issue.

SOURCE: Reuters, September 18, 2026.