Two armed men attempted to enter the police premises and exchanged fire with officials there, police said. One of the attackers has been killed, the BBC reported.
At least 21 people were killed and 78 injured on Friday after a bomb exploded inside a mosque in northwestern Pakistan. 15 police officers were among those killed as the attack happened near a building housing police offices.
The attacker rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the mosque in Kohat, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, said the provincial police chief, Zulfiqar Hameed. The attack left the outer wall of the police offices collapsed and the mosque badly damaged.
Two armed men attempted to enter the police premises and exchanged fire with officials there, police said. One of the attackers has been killed, the BBC reported.
Most of the people who were wounded in the bombing were worshippers, a senior rescue official told news agency AFP. Some of them are in a critical condition.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and expressed sorrow over the casualties.
The Pakistani President also conveyed his wishes for the swift recovery of those injured in the explosion.
The attack comes a day after a roadside bomb struck a security forces convoy in the northwestern Hangu district and killed six soldiers. Government troops also conducted raids in various areas Thursday and killed 10 extremists believed to be members of the Pakistani Taliban, the military and police said.
Pakistani Taliban have stepped up attacks on police and civilians in recent years. In 2023, a suicide bomber killed 101 people in an attack inside a mosque in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The group is separate from but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, which returned to power in 2021. Pakistan often accuses Kabul of sheltering the TTP and turning a blind eye to cross-border extremist attacks. The government in Kabul has denied the allegations.
(With inputs from agencies)
