Seven killed in Pakistan police ambush amid tensions with Afghanistan

Seven people were killed after gunmen ambushed a police patrol in Kohat, a district in Pakistan’s north-west near the Afghan border, on Tuesday, in an attack that comes amid rising militant violence and heightened tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Gunmen opened fire on the patrol in the region, which has long been affected by insurgent activity, killing five police officers and two civilians. Police said multiple assailants carried out the attack before setting the vehicle ablaze.

Kohat lies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, close to Pakistan’s former tribal areas along the frontier with Afghanistan, where security forces have faced repeated strikes in recent days.

“Several gunmen attacked a police patrol. A senior officer is among the five policemen who were killed. They also burnt the vehicle,” a police spokesperson said.

Two civilians who were wounded in the assault later died in hospital. No group has claimed responsibility.

The ambush followed a drone and gun attack a day earlier in the nearby district of Karak, where three paramilitary troops were killed.

The violence comes after Islamabad carried out air strikes in Afghanistan on Saturday, saying it had targeted militants linked to recent suicide bombings in Pakistan.

Kabul and the United Nations said at least 13 civilians were killed in the strikes.

Islamabad maintains that armed groups have been allowed to operate from Afghan soil and launch attacks across the border.

In a statement issued on 21 February, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said it had “conclusive evidence” that the attacks were carried out by what it calls Khwarij (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan), its term for the Pakistani Taliban.

The ministry said the group acted on instructions from “their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers”.

It added that Pakistan had conducted “intelligence-based selective targeting of seven terrorist camps and hideouts” used by the Pakistani Taliban and Islamic State Khorasan Province.

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Afghanistan has rejected the allegation, describing the problem as an internal matter for Pakistan.

“Pakistan’s attack was an act of terror that targeted civilians on Afghan soil and violated Afghanistan’s sovereignty,” Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said.

Afghanistan’s defence ministry condemned the strikes as a violation of sovereignty and a “breach of international law, the principles of good neighbourliness and Islamic values”.

It added: “An appropriate and measured response will be taken at a suitable time.”

Border areas have long hosted Islamist militant groups, including the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, whose conflict with the state began in 2007.

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Pakistan Afghanistan Taliban Border tensions