What happened
Two improvised explosive device (IED) attacks on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police convoys and patrols killed six officers, including a station house officer, in the Tank district and wounded three personnel in neighbouring Lakki Marwat on Monday, 12 January 2026. The Tank blast, which local police spokesperson Pervez Shah said struck an armoured personnel carrier (APC) returning to Tank from the Gomal police station within the Gomal station’s jurisdiction, also killed SHO Ishaq Ahmad, who had been on routine patrol at the time of the detonation. The bodies were moved to the Tank District Headquarters Hospital by Rescue 1122, and a “massive” security operation was underway, according to the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan.
A second IED detonated near Darra Tang Road in Lakki Marwat the same day, injuring three police personnel, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported. District Police Officer Nazir Khan reached the site and a search operation was launched. A police statement quoted in local reporting said the blast hit a patrol near Jabar Khel within the Saddar police station’s jurisdiction and that the wounded SHO and personnel were “out of danger”.
The state uses the label Fitna al Khwarij — used by Pakistani authorities for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and affiliated networks — to describe the attackers. As of Monday evening no group had publicly claimed responsibility for either blast.
How federal and provincial leaders reacted
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered an “immediate investigation” into the Tank bombing and directed that those responsible be brought to justice at the earliest, state-run Radio Pakistan reported, reaffirming the federal government’s commitment to “completely eradicate terrorism from the country”. President Asif Ali Zardari expressed “deep grief” over the deaths and called the attack a “terrorist attack” in a statement from his office, the Dawn report recorded. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the strike and paid tribute to the slain officers, saying they had “sacrificed their today for the nation’s peaceful tomorrow”.
KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi sought an immediate report from the province’s top police officials and urged the PTI-led provincial government to “take practical steps to ensure peace in the province”. In his statement, Kundi attributed the attack to “Indian-backed Fitna al Khwarij”, language that echoes the federal security establishment’s framing of TTP-linked violence as externally supported. National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq condemned the “irreparable loss” and paid tribute to law-enforcement agencies.
Where the attack fits in the recent pattern
The twin IED strikes cap a four-day stretch of targeted attacks on security forces across KP. On 10 January a Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) official was killed in Peshawar and another in Bannu. On 9 January a policeman died in Bajaur and another in Khyber when gunmen ambushed a car; three were injured in Bannu on 8 January when a prisoner-transport vehicle was attacked on the way to Hangu. In December 2025 five policemen were killed in a similar ambush in Karak district. Police convoys and foot patrols in the southern KP districts — Tank, Lakki Marwat, Bannu, Karak, Hangu — have been repeatedly targeted since the TTP ended its ceasefire in November 2022, and security operations against the responsible networks continue.
What is still uncertain
The attackers in either district had not been publicly identified by Monday evening, and no militant group had claimed either blast. The status of the federal probe — whether the KP CTD, the federal CTD, or a joint team will lead it — had not been disclosed by publication time.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 2026-01-12.
- Roadside bomb targeting police vehicle kills 6 officers in northwest Pakistan — AP News12 January 2026 · Primary wire confirmation that six officers died in the Tank district blast, with SHO Ishaq Ahmad named among the dead and local police chief Pervez Shah quoted.
- 6 martyred as police come under attack in KP's Tank, Lakki Marwat — DAWN.COM12 January 2026 · Independent Pakistan-anchored reporting on the twin IED strikes, including the separate Lakki Marwat Darra Tang Road blast that wounded three police and condemnations from PM Shehbaz, President Zardari, Interior Minister Naqvi, KP Governor Kundi, and NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq.
