Ten police officers were killed when gunmen attacked a police team in northwestern Pakistan, provincial police have said. Police also said 18 militants died in the ensuing exchange of fire.
The attack took place on 11 November in the Darbukach area of Kohat district, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to the provincial force, the officers were returning from an operation against illegal gold mining that had been conducted jointly with the local civil administration.
Police said the team came under fire in the area covered by Gumbat police station. An exchange of fire followed and continued for several hours, according to a local police official. Deputy Superintendent of Police Haidar Zaman was among the officers killed.
The provincial police account puts the number of officers killed at 10. Some earlier accounts had reported 11 deaths. Police said 18 attackers were killed, although that figure is based on the force’s account rather than an independently established count.
The local rescue service said it took 12 injured police personnel to hospital. Additional police and security personnel were sent to the area after the attack, and an emergency was declared at a Kohat hospital to help treat the injured. The authorities’ initial accounts did not provide a full assessment of the condition of those taken there.
The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, later claimed responsibility for an attack on the police convoy. The group’s claim could not be independently verified.
Police alleged that militant and criminal groups had cooperated and that criminal elements had prompted the attack. They also alleged a connection to foreign forces. Those claims have not been independently established, and police did not provide evidence for the alleged foreign role.
Action against unauthorised mining
The operation came after local authorities had announced restrictions intended to curb unauthorised gold extraction in the district. A day before the attack, the Kohat deputy commissioner imposed a 60-day ban on parking excavators in designated placer gold mining blocks and adjoining areas.
The district administration said machinery kept at homes near mining sites could be used for unauthorised extraction. It said earlier operations to clear illegal mining sites had not stopped the activity. In a separate order, the administration prohibited the sale, purchase and supply of petroleum products in open containers or bottles for use in illegal gold mining in the district.
Condemnation and wider security concerns
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi condemned the attack, expressed sympathy for the officers’ families and sought a detailed report from police. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also expressed grief on 12 November and paid tribute to the officers who died.
Sharif reiterated the government’s commitment to combating terrorism. He referred to the police account of the 18 militants killed and repeated the allegation of links between militants and criminal elements.
The province has been under emergency measures and governor’s rule since 11 October. The federal government cited concerns about the provincial administration’s response to militancy, while the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party rejected that justification and said terrorism had been used as a pretext to target its elected government.
The Pakistani Taliban is separate from the Afghan Taliban, which governs neighbouring Afghanistan, although the groups are allied. Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Afghan authorities of allowing militants who attack Pakistan to operate from Afghan territory. Kabul denies that allegation. The broader dispute does not establish a connection between Afghanistan and this particular attack.
