Pakistan suffered a major overnight militant attack on a police post in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, leaving 11 police personnel and 15 attackers dead by early Thursday.
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The attack targeted the Khazina police post in Hangu district, close to the Afghanistan border. Responding security forces fought back, killing 15 militants during the exchange of fire, police official Irfan Khan said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the assault, though suspicion is expected to fall on the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has intensified attacks on Pakistani security forces in the border region in recent months.
The dead included police officer Diyar Khan, who was leading a reinforcement team to the attacked outpost, according to a statement from the provincial police. More than two dozen police personnel were also injured in the fighting.
Police said the militants used heavy weapons to storm the post. Reinforcements heading to the scene were ambushed on the way, with an armoured personnel carrier damaged before officers regrouped and engaged the attackers, eventually forcing them back.
Pakistan has seen a steady rise in militant violence in recent years, with the TTP blamed for many of the attacks. Although the group is separate from Afghanistan's ruling Taliban. Since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021, Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan government of sheltering TTP militants, a charge that Kabul has consistently denied.
