Attack claimed by a faction of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) active in the region. Posted on September 18, 2026 September 18, 2026 A suicide bomb attack at a mosque and a subsequent shooting in Pakistan’s restive northwest have killed at least 31 people, including 16 police officers, and wounded dozens more, according to the AFP news agency. headquarters in Kohat. The city is in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, near the border with Afghanistan. List of 4 Item Recommended Storiesend of list A faction of the Pakistani Taliban, known by the acronym TTP, claimed responsibility. Ittehadul Mujahideen, which means Mujahideen Alliance and is linked to Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, said it carried out the suicide attack. Provincial police chief Zulfikar Hameed confirmed the suicide attack. After the explosion, armed men tried to enter the police precinct and exchanged shots with the officers. At least 15 bodies and more than 50 wounded 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 faithful, the Associated Press news agency reported. The mosque was severely damaged and the outer wall of the police station collapsed. Residents said they heard the explosion some distance away. Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said at least six of the attackers were killed in the fighting. He added that Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban of allowing the TTP and other groups that orchestrate attacks to operate from Afghan territory. Kabul officials deny the allegation. The TTP is separate from but allied with the Taliban, who returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. “Kohat is close to the Afghan border, it is the main town on the way to the restive North Waziristan region, and it is also on the way to Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan. In recent months, we have seen deadly attacks in all of these areas,” Hyder said. along a street leading to a police facility following an attack on the facility in Kohat, Pakistan, on September 18, 2026. [Reuters]Those armed groups are trying to “overthrow the government of Pakistan,” said Michael Semple, a visiting professor at Queen’s University Belfast and former EU representative in Afghanistan who negotiated with the Afghan Taliban. Sophisticated attacks like the one in Kohat could not be attempted without planning, logistics and training, Semple told Al Jazeera. “The attack in Kohat came the day after a roadside bomb killed six soldiers in a security forces convoy in the northwestern district of Hangu. Government troops attacked several areas on Thursday, killing 10 suspected Taliban fighters, the army and police said. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the bomb attack and ordered authorities to speed up rescue operations. The Interior Ministry said Las “Cowardly actions” of the attackers could not weaken the “firm resolve of the nation.”
