A powerful bomb exploded at a mosque near police offices in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 15 people and injuring 56 others, police and rescue officials said. Most of the wounded were worshippers.
The blast took place in Kohat district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near the Afghan border, amid a rise in militant violence in the region.
Provincial police chief Zulfiqar Hameed said an attacker apparently rammed a vehicle loaded with explosives into the mosque.
Rescue officials said five police officers and 10 civilians were among those killed, while some of the wounded were in critical condition.
At least two armed men also attempted to enter the nearby police compound and exchanged fire with officers, according to police.
Images from the scene showed extensive damage to the mosque, while part of the outer wall of the police offices had collapsed. The blast was followed by gunfire and could reportedly be heard from a long distance.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and expressed condolences to the victims’ families. He also ordered authorities to speed up rescue operations.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. However, suspicion is expected to focus on the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has intensified attacks against security forces and civilians in recent years.
The bombing came a day after a roadside bomb struck a security forces convoy in nearby Hangu district, killing six soldiers.
Pakistani security forces also carried out several operations on Thursday in North Waziristan and Hangu, killing 10 militants believed by the military to be members of the TTP.
The latest attacks come amid renewed violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province that has repeatedly witnessed attacks by militant groups operating along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan.
In 2023, a suicide bomber killed 101 people when he detonated explosives inside a mosque in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The TTP is a separate group from Afghanistan’s Taliban but is allied with it. Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Taliban government in Kabul of sheltering TTP militants and allowing cross-border attacks.
Afghan authorities have denied the accusations, while tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have continued to grow over militant activity along their shared border.
