What happened
Armed militants abducted three brothers, all government employees, from a mosque in Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and later killed two of them, both police officers. The bodies were recovered along the Marwat Canal Road on the morning of Thursday 26 February 2026.
According to district police, the incident occurred in the Sokari Hassan Khel area, within the jurisdiction of the Cantt police station, where the three brothers were performing Isha and Taraweeh prayers. Between 10 and 12 armed men stormed the mosque during the prayers and forcibly took the men away in a vehicle to an undisclosed location, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan. Police said the assailants showed no regard for the sanctity of the mosque or the prayers.
The three were identified as Saeed Akhtar, a clerk at the Commissioner’s Office, and his brothers Amjad Khan and Hazratullah, both serving as police personnel in the Wazir subdivision. The bodies of the two policemen were found dumped by the roadside bearing marks of brutal killing. The third brother, Saeed Akhtar, remained missing.
The killings drew an angry response in Bannu. After the funeral prayers, residents and tribal elders placed the bodies on the road at Tappi Qala Chowk and launched a sit-in, demanding the immediate and safe recovery of the missing brother. Protest leaders warned the demonstration would continue until he was returned, accusing the provincial government of detachment and inaction.
Why it matters
The attack underscores the persistent threat to police and government staff in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s border districts, where militants have repeatedly targeted security personnel. It came amid a broader surge in violence in the province and along the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier, in the same week that Pakistani forces reported multiple counter-militancy operations and cross-border clashes. Two days earlier, militants killed seven police officers in a Kohat ambush and a Bhakkar suicide bombing.
The abduction from a mosque during prayers also struck at community life in an area that has seen repeated militant activity. The protest in Bannu reflects growing public frustration over the inability to protect off-duty officials and civilians, and it increases pressure on the provincial government to secure the release of the third brother.
What is still uncertain
No group had publicly claimed responsibility for the abduction and killings at the time of writing, although police and local officials linked the assailants to militants operating in the region. The whereabouts of Saeed Akhtar remained unknown, and the circumstances of the two policemen’s killing were not independently detailed. Authorities had not announced arrests, and it was not clear how the abductors were able to enter and leave the Cantt police station area.
