11 Pakistani security personnel killed as police post attacked near Afghan border

The Pakistan Taliban is likely to come under suspicion as it has launched series of attacks on Pakistani security forces in the region in recent months.

At least 11 security officials have reportedly been killed in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Thursday after terrorists attacked the Khazina police post in Hangu district, along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The attack left 22 security personnel injured.

Police officers stand guard outside a hospital, where injured victims of an overnight deadly militant attack on a police post, are treated, in Hangu, a district in northwestern Pakistan, Thursday, July 30, 2026. (B.S. Gillani)

Fifteen terrorists were also killed in an hourlong gunbattle, though no group has so far claimed responsibility of the attack, the Associated Press reported. However, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is likely to come under suspicion as it has launched series of attacks on Pakistani security forces in the region in recent months.

The Pakistani police officials also blamed the TTP, or Fitna al Khawarij, a term the government uses for the banned terror outfit, for the attack.

Following the attack on the police checkpost, reinforcements were dispatched to assist, Inspector General of Police Zulfiqar Hameed was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. However, the vehicle carrying additional personnel also came under fire, the official said.

Police said the militants attacked the police post with heavy weapons. Reinforcements dispatched to the scene were ambushed en route, damaging an armored personnel carrier before officers fought back, according to the statement.

It comes just days after unidentified militants attacked another checkpoint in the Tank district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A police officer visits an injured policeman at a hospital, after a militant attack on a checkpoint at Hangu district in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. (AFP)

Pak ministers condemn KPK terror attack

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have condemned the attack on the checkpost in Hangu.

"Police have always served as the frontline force in the fight against terrorism," Sharif said.

The prime minister reaffirmed the government's firm resolve to eliminate terrorism "in all its forms" from the country.

Interior minister Mohsin Naqvi also condemned the attack and called on President Zardari to brief him on the current law and order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan and the ongoing measures against terrorism, the President's office said.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has faced recurring unrest over the years driven by militant violence, cross-border movement of fighters from Afghanistan and repeated military operations.

The federal government accuses the banned TTP of carrying out attacks in the province after its ceasefire deal ended in November 2022.