PESHAWAR — A vehicle bomb exploded Friday near a mosque and police offices in Kohat, in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 21 people and wounding 80, police and rescue officials said. Gunmen also tried to storm the compound, turning the incident into a coordinated assault on a security site and worshippers.

The Associated Press reported that the attacker apparently rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the mosque. At least seven armed men then attempted to enter the police compound and exchanged fire with officers. Police said six of the gunmen were killed, while one suicide bomber attacked a nearby intelligence-agency office.

Most of those killed and wounded were police officers attending prayers, according to the AP account. The compound housed counter-terrorism police who had carried out operations against militants across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province where security forces and civilians have faced repeated attacks.

No group immediately claimed responsibility. AP said suspicion was likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, but that is an attribution under investigation rather than an established fact. Pakistan frequently accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of sheltering the TTP; Kabul denies the allegation.

The attack came a day after a roadside bomb killed six soldiers in nearby Hangu and after Pakistani forces said they had killed 10 militants in raids. Those events form a worrying sequence, but they do not by themselves prove that the same group planned every attack. The confirmed story is a deadly assault in Kohat, with rescue work, attribution and the wider security response still developing.

Reporting note: this article is based on the source record listed above and is current as of 18 September 2026, 16:50 BST. Figures, operational claims and casualty counts may change as authorities update their accounts.