Reporting snapshot · 19 September 2026. Police and district health officials confirmed 21 deaths, including 15 police officers, and more than 100 injured in the 18 September attack on Kohat's Old Police Lines. The Hafiz Gul Bahadur-led Ittihadul Mujahideen Pakistan claimed responsibility. Figures were still being finalised as the clearance operation concluded and hospitals updated their counts.
What happened
At least 21 people, including 15 police officers, were killed and more than 100 wounded when an explosives-laden vehicle detonated near a mosque inside the Old Police Lines in Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on 18 September 2026, an attack later claimed by the Hafiz Gul Bahadur-led Ittihadul Mujahideen Pakistan (IMP), police and district health officials said. KhabarWire reported the same-day casualty figures on 18 September.
The confirmed figures came from an initial incident report issued by the medical superintendent of Kohat’s District Headquarters Hospital and the district health officer. Of the 21 killed, 15 were police personnel and six were civilians. The report identified one of the civilian dead as Dr Israel Khan Aurakzai, Chief District Specialist (Paediatrics) at Liaqat Memorial Hospital, Kohat. Officials said 103 injured people had been received at two hospitals — 13 at Liaqat Memorial Hospital and 90 at DHQ Hospital Kohat — including 73 police personnel and 30 civilians. Thirty-four of the injured were admitted, and five underwent laparotomy, an abdominal surgical procedure; four were referred to tertiary facilities in Peshawar.
The attack occurred at about 1:20pm during Friday congregational prayers at a mosque on Hangu Road in the Police Lines, according to the police account. Seven armed terrorists infiltrated the compound after a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated at the boundary wall near the mosque. Six of the attackers, including the suicide bomber, were killed, and police said all seven attackers died in the explosion and the ensuing gun battle. A clearance operation supervised by Inspector General of Police Zulfiqar Hamid, with the Counter Terrorism Department’s additional inspector general entering the compound to lead it, was described as in its final stages later that day.
Who claimed responsibility
The Ittihadul Mujahideen Pakistan, led by Afghanistan-based Hafiz Gul Bahadur, claimed responsibility for the bombing and the subsequent assault. The alliance, formed in April 2025, brings together the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, Lashkar-e-Islam and Harakat-e-Inqilab-e-Islami, factions that emerged from the Pakistani Taliban movement and operate mainly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s former tribal districts. Pakistan’s government has described IMP as a front for the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and al-Qaeda, and a United Nations report has said the group operates from Afghanistan.
The claim draws attention to the cross-border dimension of the attack. Islamabad has repeatedly asked the Taliban administration in Kabul to deny Afghan soil to militant groups, and has said the de facto authorities have been reluctant to act. Afghanistan’s Taliban government denies harbouring militants and says attacks are a domestic problem for Pakistan. Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir and the head of the intelligence agency the day before the bombing, and also held talks in Kabul aimed at easing tensions between the two countries.
The attack in context
The Kohat assault was the latest and deadliest in a series of strikes on police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this year. It came a day after a roadside bomb struck a security forces convoy in neighbouring Hangu district, killing six soldiers, and after troops conducted raids across the province on Thursday in which 10 militants were killed. In August, a suicide bomber killed 14 people, including police, at the gate of a police station in Swat. In February, gunmen ambushed a police van on Shakardara Road in Kohat, killing a deputy superintendent and other officers.
Kohat itself has been hit before. In 2010, 20 people, mostly relatives of policemen, were killed and more than 90 injured in a remote-controlled bomb blast inside a police colony just behind the Kohat Police Lines. The scale of the latest attack also recalls the January 2023 suicide bombing at a mosque inside the Peshawar Police Lines, which killed more than 100 people, most of them police officers. Militant violence has risen sharply in recent months, with armed groups targeting the military and police as the state intensifies counter-terrorism operations under the Fitna al-Khawarij designation for the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and allied groups.
The official response
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the blast, Radio Pakistan reported on 18 September. The president said the complete elimination of Fitna al-Khawarij and foreign-backed terrorists was essential for national security, and the prime minister sought a report from the relevant authorities and directed that relief operations be expedited. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the terrorists’ “cowardly acts” could not weaken the nation’s resolve. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi condemned the attack and sought a detailed report, and Governor Faisal Karim Kundi said the entire nation stood with the security forces to eradicate terrorism. The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres strongly condemned the bombing, with a spokesman saying attacks targeting civilians and places of worship are unacceptable. The United Kingdom’s High Commissioner and Russia’s embassy in Pakistan also condemned the attack.
Funeral prayers for the martyrs were offered in Kohat later in the evening, attended by the provincial inspector general, Information Minister Shafiullah Jan, Law Minister Aftab Alam, the Kohat commissioner, political and social figures, the families of those killed and a large number of citizens. Speaking on the occasion, the inspector general said the mortal remains of the martyrs had been dispatched to their native areas and that the police were tracking the network behind the attack, vowing that “every drop of the martyrs’ blood will be accounted for”.
What is still uncertain
The most important caveat is the reliability of the responsibility claim. Militant claims are not independently verified, and analysts have cautioned that affiliations among the factions operating in the region are fluid. Pakistani officials and independent reporting attribute the attack to the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and its allied network, and IMP is described by the government as a front for the group. No official statement from the security establishment had confirmed which organisation planned the attack when this article was published.
The casualty figures may also continue to move. Early reports put the death toll at 16 before the hospital report confirmed 21, and officials said a small number of the wounded were in critical condition and some had been referred for specialist treatment in Peshawar. The exact sequence of the attack, the identities of all the attackers, and whether any facilitators inside Pakistan remained involved were under investigation. A senior official told Dawn on the night of 18 September that one militant had been cornered inside the compound and that the entire complex was being cleared; police later said all seven attackers had been killed.
Whether the attack prompts a change in Pakistan’s approach to cross-border militancy is another open question. The government has previously responded to large-scale strikes on security forces with intensified operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and, in earlier periods, with strikes inside Afghanistan. The renewed claim by an Afghanistan-based commander, and the timing of Turkish and Qatari mediation between Islamabad and Kabul, will test whether diplomatic channels or military pressure dominate the response.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 19 September 2026. Casualty and responsibility figures are drawn from official and police statements as reported by multiple outlets; the responsibility claim is a militant group's assertion and has not been independently verified.
- The Express Tribune — Mosque blown up as terrorists storm Kohat police facility19 September 2026 · Primary report of the DHQ Hospital incident figures (21 killed, 15 police; 103 injured), the police account of the attack, and the IMP responsibility claim.
- Pakistan Today — 15 cops among 21 martyred in Kohat Police Lines blast, over 100 injured19 September 2026 · Independent account of the death toll confirmed by the district health officer, the clearance operation, funeral prayers, and the condemnations by officials.
- Dawn — 21 lives lost as terrorists target mosque in Kohat police lines19 September 2026 · Independent confirmation of 21 dead including 15 police, the claim by the Hafiz Gul Bahadur-led Ittehadul Mujahideen, and the clearance of the complex.
- BBC News — At least 21 killed after vehicle loaded with explosives rams Pakistan mosque18–19 September 2026 · Independent international confirmation of the toll, the Fitna al-Khawarij designation, and the UN condemnation.
- ABC News (Australia) via Associated Press — Pakistan mosque bombing near police offices kills at least 21 people19 September 2026 · Independent wire report on the casualties, the Hangu convoy bombing the previous day, and the Turkish intelligence mediation context.
