Explosions at a police station in Pakistan leave seven dead and 44 injured

At least seven people have lost their lives, and dozens have sustained injuries in an attack inside a counter-terrorism police station in Pakistan yesterday. The incident caused the building to collapse, according to officials. The police station, situated in Kabal town in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, experienced numerous blasts, marking the latest in a series of high-profile attacks targeting law enforcement in the country.

Khalid Sohail, a senior police officer in the local counter-terrorism department, stated that the explosions occurred within the police station, resulting in the complete collapse of the building. Bilal Faizi, a spokesperson for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s provincial rescue service, confirmed that emergency services had so far recovered at least seven bodies from the rubble and relocated 44 injured individuals to nearby hospitals.

Akhtar Hayat Gandapur, the inspector general of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police, informed the press that a series of two to three explosions had taken place at the police station. Gandapur confirmed the death toll at eight and the injured at more than 40, with a majority of the victims being policemen. The attack occurred on the final day of the Islamic Eid al-Fitr festival, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Although no group has claimed responsibility for these attacks so far, previous attacks on large police bases have been linked to the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). In January of this year, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a mosque within a police compound in the northwestern city of Peshawar. The explosion resulted in the deaths of more than 80 officers as the building collapsed and covered worshippers in debris.

In February, five individuals were killed when a TTP suicide squad assaulted a police compound in the southern port city of Karachi, sparking a shootout that lasted several hours. The TTP has been known to target law enforcement officials, whom they accuse of conducting extrajudicial killings.

Since the Taliban‘s takeover of Kabul, Pakistan has experienced a significant increase in attacks, primarily in its border regions with Afghanistan. Islamabad has claimed that these offensives are being launched from Afghan territory. The TTP was founded in 2007 when Pakistani militants who had been fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan branched off in retaliation for Islamabad’s support of the US invasion following the 9/11 attacks.

At the zenith of their reign, the TTP controlled significant portions of northwest Pakistan, including the Swat Valley. However, following a 2014 school raid that resulted in the deaths of nearly 150 individuals—primarily students—the military has largely suppressed the group. The Swat Valley is notably where Malala Yousafzai, then 15 years old, was shot in the head by the TTP in 2012 for her advocacy of girls’ education. Yousafzai’s campaign earned her the Nobel Peace Prize.

A fragile six-month ceasefire between the TTP and Islamabad crumbled in November. The recent attack on the police station serves as a stark reminder of the dangers faced by law enforcement officials on the frontlines of the ongoing battle against terrorism.