The Pakistani Taliban, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has claimed responsibility for Wednesday's ambush of a police team in Pakistan's Kohat district, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police say 18 militants were killed in the gunbattle that followed — an attack that left 10 police personnel dead and 12 wounded, according to the Associated Press and a provincial police statement.

Source: Associated Press via Islamabad Post

Militants ambushed vehicles carrying police officers in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, triggering a gunbattle that killed at least 10 officers and 18 militants, officials said, AP reported from Peshawar. The attack took place in Kohat, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, as officers were returning from an operation against criminals involved in illegal gold mining near Kohat, local police official Faisal Khan told AP. Two senior police officers were among the dead, and the exchange of fire continued for hours.

Source: Associated Press via Islamabad Post

What the police statement says

A statement by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police said the joint police and civil-administration operation targeted illegal gold mining at the Darabo Kach area near Kohat, in the district's Gumbat area, and that militants of the banned TTP — referred to in the statement by the state's designation 'Fitna al-Khawarij' — attacked the police party as it was returning, at the instigation of criminal elements, The Standard reported. Police said their personnel fought back, killing 18 attackers, while 10 officers, including Deputy Superintendent of Police Haider Zaman, were killed.

Source: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police statement via The Standard

Hours later, the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, AP reported, noting the TTP has stepped up attacks on security forces in the region in recent months. Police said the attack showed organised links between criminal networks involved in illegal gold mining and the TTP — a claim the police statement attributed to the behest of foreign powers; that allegation is the police's, and was not independently established in the reporting.

Source: Associated Press via Islamabad Post

The toll, clarified

Early reporting on Wednesday, including Rescue 1122 figures carried in our November 11 story, had put the feared police death toll at 11. The provincial police statement and AP's Thursday reporting put the confirmed police toll at 10, including DSP Haider Zaman, with 12 officers wounded. A senior administrative official in the Orakzai area of Kohat separately said 10 TTP militants were killed during a separate operation in the district, according to reports carrying the police account.

Source: Associated Press via Islamabad Post

Islamabad responds

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief over the deaths of the 10 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police personnel, including DSP Haider Zaman, strongly condemned the attack in Kohat's Darabukach area and paid tribute to the fallen officers, the Prime Minister's Office said in a late-night statement reported by Islamabad Post. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also condemned the attack and said the personnel, 'fighting back bravely,' killed 18 militants.

Source: Prime Minister's Office statement via Islamabad Post

A rising attack curve

Pakistan has seen a sharp rise in militant attacks, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. The country recorded its highest monthly number of militant attacks in 12 years in September 2026 — 225 attacks, compared with 199 in August — according to data compiled by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), an Islamabad-based think tank, Islamabad Post reported.

Source: PICSS data via Islamabad Post

What happens next

Police said the operation against illegal gold mining in the Gambat area, under way for several days, would continue, and district police said the pursuit of those involved was continuing. What to watch is whether Islamabad announces a wider security operation in Kohat and the adjoining districts, and whether the TTP issues further claims — the group has now publicly tied itself to one of the deadliest single attacks on police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this year.