Ten policemen killed in Kohat attack after anti-mining operation

Ten policemen were killed on Wednesday when a Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police party came under attack near Kohat, and 18 attackers died in the fighting, according to the provincial police. It comes only a day after the district administration moved against the machinery used in illegal gold mining.

What police have said

In a statement, the KP Police public relations director said the personnel were taking part in a joint operation with the local civil administration against illegal gold mining in the Darabukach area near Kohat city. The attack came, the statement said, as the party was heading back after the operation was complete.

The police described the attackers as “Fitna al Khawarij”, the label the state uses for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). They said the men fought back and that 18 of the attackers were killed, while 10 policemen “embraced martyrdom”. Images the force shared on social media included Deputy Superintendent of Police Haidar Zaman among those killed. The dead came from KP, the police said, particularly from Kohat.

Rescue 1122 spokesman Jawad Afridi said in a video message that 12 injured policemen had been taken to hospital.

The police also alleged a link between “criminal elements” acting for “external forces” and the militants. We have no independent account of who carried out the attack or how many attackers there were, so the figures and the claims about backers are the police’s own. One small difference has already surfaced: the police said the attack happened after the operation, while the statement from Governor Faisal Karim Kundi’s office put it during the operation.

Reactions

Governor Kundi called the attack cowardly, asked for a detailed report and said the attackers would be brought to justice. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal Chaudhry said the government and the relevant institutions should bring those responsible before the law as soon as possible.

Why gold mining is part of this story

Placer gold is gold found in loose sand and gravel, which can be dug out with excavators and washed without deep mining. On Tuesday the Kohat deputy commissioner imposed a 60-day ban on parking excavators in the limits of placer gold Blocks C and D and nearby mining areas. The order said some people had parked excavators at their homes near the sites, where they could easily be used for unauthorised mining, and that earlier operations to clear the areas had not stopped the practice. A second order banned the sale and supply of petroleum products in open containers or bottles for use in unauthorised mining.

The police statement claims a “nexus” between organised criminals and the militants. If the allegation holds, it would explain why an operation about illegal mining drew an armed response, but we cannot confirm it from the information released so far.

The wider pattern

KP’s police have been under repeated attack. Last week two policemen were killed and one injured when gunmen opened fire on them in Mohmand district. In October an officer was killed when militants attacked a police post in Bajaur, an additional station house officer was shot dead near Miranshah Bypass Road in North Waziristan on October 20, and seven policemen were injured in an attack on a checkpost in Kohat on October 7. The Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies described the security picture from October 30 to November 5 as volatile, with renewed militant activity in KP and the former tribal districts alongside intensified counterterrorism operations.

The federal government imposed an emergency and governor’s rule in the province on October 11, saying the PTI-led provincial government had disengaged from the fight against terrorism, as we reported at the time in our story on the emergency. Earlier on Wednesday we also reported on a former Afghan army member arrested in Tirah, another case in which officials link militants to cross-border support.

Why it matters

Policemen are the first line of defence in towns and districts where the army is not deployed, and they often carry out civil tasks such as clearing illegal mines. When an operation of that kind ends in a loss of ten lives, it raises questions that go beyond a single attack: whether escorts and intelligence matched the risk, how many other mining areas are in similar condition, and how the province will pay for protecting its officers.

What we do not know

• Who exactly carried out the attack, and how many attackers took part.
• Whether the police party was attacked during or after the operation.
• The condition of the injured.
• What action the provincial and federal authorities will take against the mining networks in Kohat.

What to watch next is the official identification of the attackers, any operation announced in Darabukach and nearby areas, and whether the Kohat administration extends its restrictions on excavators beyond 60 days.