Reporting snapshot · 17 October 2026. Pakistan's Counter Terrorism Department says the man it accuses of masterminding the 18 September attack on Kohat's Old Police Lines was killed in a joint operation in Lakki Marwat on 16 October. The allegations below are the CTD's account, carried by the state broadcaster and independent newspapers; no independent confirmation of the claims has been published, and the identity and affiliation of the dead man rest on official accounts.
What happened
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) said a joint intelligence-based operation by its Lakki Marwat unit and security forces killed a militant commander, Zahid Gul, in the Wolai Sagai area adjoining the Bettani subdivision of Lakki Marwat district on Friday, 16 October 2026. The department described Gul as a commander affiliated with the proscribed Gul Bahadur group and as the alleged mastermind of the 18 September suicide attack on the Old Kohat Police Lines.
Radio Pakistan, the state broadcaster, carried the CTD’s account, and The Express Tribune and Pakistan Today reported the same details on 16 October. Officials said the operation was carried out on the basis of intelligence reports, that Gul was wanted by law enforcement agencies, and that other members of the militant network had already been taken into custody.
The killing is the first the authorities have publicly linked to a named suspect in the Kohat Police Lines attack, one of the deadliest assaults on police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this year. Any claims about Gul’s role remain those of the police and the CTD; they have not been tested in court or confirmed by an independent investigation.
What the CTD alleges about Zahid Gul
According to the CTD, Gul personally guided the explosives-laden vehicle that was driven towards the Old Kohat Police Lines and detonated during Friday prayers on 18 September, a blast that was followed by a gun-and-grenade assault on the compound. The department also said he had transported several suicide bombers to Kohat and maintained close links with the Gul Bahadur group.
Police said that about two months before his killing, Gul had brought a suicide bomber to attack the “new” Kohat Police Lines, and that the plan was foiled. They alleged that a Pakistan Air Force installation and the police training school in Kohat were among the targets of future attacks he was planning.
The CTD further linked Gul to a bank robbery in the Bilitang area of Kohat, in which about six million rupees were looted, and said the money was subsequently distributed among militant groups operating in the Baka Khel and Jani Khel areas of Bannu district. The Express Tribune noted that the account rested entirely on police officials and that no independent confirmation of the claims was cited.
The Gul Bahadur group sits inside Ittihadul Mujahideen Pakistan (IMP), the alliance that claimed responsibility for the 18 September attack. IMP, formed in 2025 and led by the Afghanistan-based commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, brings together factions that emerged from the Pakistani Taliban movement and operate mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s former tribal districts. Pakistan’s government describes the alliance as a front for the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and refers to it under its “Fitna al-Khawarij” designation.
The 18 September attack that he is accused of enabling
The assault on the Old Police Lines began shortly after 1pm on 18 September, when an explosives-laden vehicle — described in reporting as resembling a rickshaw — was rammed near the compound and detonated, damaging a mosque. Armed attackers then entered the Police Lines, opening fire and using hand grenades, and a clearance operation involving police, the CTD and the Elite Force ran for around 20 hours before the compound was secured.
KhabarWire reported the attack and its first casualty figures on 18 September, the confirmed toll of 21, including 15 police officers, and the IMP claim of responsibility on 19 September, and Pakistan’s formal demand that the Afghan Taliban dismantle militant networks on 20 September. An initial police investigation later found that the attackers had planned a prolonged siege of the compound rather than a single bombing, carrying sniper rifles and grenades as they moved on key buildings.
The casualty figures have varied across sources and over the days that followed, from early reports of 16 dead to later counts of 21, 22 and, in some accounts, 23. The most widely reported figure — at least 21 killed, including 15 police personnel, and more than 100 wounded — is the one police and district health officials gave as the clearance operation concluded.
Why the operation matters
The CTD’s account presents the Lakki Marwat killing as the closing of a loop on the Kohat attack: a named commander, tied to the network that claimed the assault, removed roughly four weeks after it. It comes as the state campaigns under its “Fitna al-Khawarij” framing against militant groups in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and as the federal government’s imposition of emergency rule and governor’s rule in the province dominates the political agenda. Counterterrorism officials have repeatedly said that attacks on police and security personnel are planned from sanctuaries and former tribal districts along the Afghan border, and that operations against facilitators are central to disrupting them.
For residents of Kohat and the neighbouring districts, the operation also speaks to a pattern rather than a single plot. Police said the network behind the 18 September attack had been preparing further assaults in Kohat, including on a police training facility. Establishing whether the network has genuinely been degraded will depend on whether the tempo of attacks on police eases in the weeks ahead, not on a single raid.
What is still uncertain
The central uncertainty is the reliability of the CTD’s account. The claims that Gul guided the Kohat vehicle, transported bombers, carried out the bank robbery and planned future attacks are official allegations; no court finding, forensic evidence or independent investigation has confirmed them, and The Express Tribune explicitly noted that no independent confirmation was cited. The identity of the dead man, his precise affiliation and his rank within the Gul Bahadur group also rest on the CTD’s statement alone.
The final death toll from the 18 September attack likewise remains unsettled, with official figures ranging from 21 to 23 depending on whether attackers were counted and how hospitals updated their lists. Investigators had earlier described the attack as an attempt at a prolonged siege, but they have not publicly identified all the attackers, and questions about how the militants crossed into Kohat, who financed them and whether any facilitators inside the district remain at large have not been answered.
It is also unclear what, if anything, the operation changes for the broader confrontation with militant groups operating from the border regions, or for the political standoff over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This is a dated snapshot as of 17 October 2026; the CTD’s account and the casualty record may be revised as more information emerges.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 17 October 2026. The account of Zahid Gul and the Lakki Marwat operation is a Counter Terrorism Department statement as carried by the state broadcaster and independent newspapers; it has not been independently verified.
- Radio Pakistan — Mastermind of Kohat Police Lines suicide attack killed in joint operation16 October 2026 · The CTD Khyber Pakhtunkhwa statement naming Zahid Gul, the Gul Bahadur affiliation, the Bilitang bank robbery and the transporting of suicide bombers to Kohat; the closest available record of the official account.
- The Express Tribune — Suspected mastermind behind Kohat Police Lines suicide attack killed in Lakki Marwat operation16 October 2026 · The location and nature of the joint operation, the allegations against Gul, the foiled attack on the new Police Lines and the note that no independent confirmation was cited.
- Pakistan Today — Mastermind of suicide attack on Kohat Police Lines killed in operation16 October 2026 · Independent account of the CTD statement, the intended targets in Kohat and the bank robbery proceeds.
