BLAST AND GUNFIRE AT PAKISTAN POLICE COMPLEX KILL AT LEAST 31

An explosion and gun attack at a police headquarters in Kohat, in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, killed at least 31 people and injured more than 100, a senior police official said. The official said 16 of the dead were police personnel. Authorities said an explosives-laden vehicle rammed the gate of the Old Police Lines complex before detonating, and gunmen then stormed the compound, opening fire. One report said the assault involved a first vehicle explosion followed by gunfire and a second suicide blast. The attack took place on Friday afternoon while officers and their families were praying inside a mosque at the complex.

Kohat is a town of around 220,000 people, and the complex functions as a district-level police headquarters, housing the Counter Terrorism Department, the Special Branch and several other police units. The police official described the assault as a militant attack combined with a suicide bombing. Fighting was reported to be continuing after the initial explosions and gunfire, according to the police official's account given on Saturday. No group had been confirmed as responsible for the attack in the material reported so far.

The toll of at least 31 dead and more than 100 injured was described by the police official as provisional, with the count rising as the situation developed. The targeting of a mosque inside a police compound, during prayers involving officers and their families, marks the assault as directed at both security personnel and civilians on site. No further details on casualties among family members, arrests or an official investigation were confirmed in the reports available.