Car bombing and ambush in northwest Pakistan kills at least 12 policemen

A police post on the outskirts of Bannu was blasted apart by a car bomb, then struck by gunfire as officers rushed in for backup, in an assault that left at least 12 policemen dead and later pushed the toll to 14. The attack, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghanistan border, reduced the installation to rubble and sent bricks, charred wreckage and mangled vehicles across the road.

Police official Zahid Khan said a suicide bomber and several fighters detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near the security post, triggering multiple blasts that brought the structure down. Armed men then ambushed the police personnel who were moving in to help, and police sources said drones were also used. Of the 15 officers on duty, most were feared dead, while three personnel were found alive and taken to hospital. Government hospitals in Bannu were placed under emergency measures as the wounded were rushed in.

The attack added to a grim pattern in Bannu, a district that has become one of the most exposed points in Pakistan’s northwest. A breakaway group, Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan, claimed responsibility, underscoring how militant networks continue to adapt their tactics even after repeated security operations in the area. The combination of a vehicle-borne blast, an immediate ground assault and reported drone use showed a level of coordination aimed at overwhelming a local police post before reinforcements could settle into the fight.

Bannu has been hit before. A major assault on Bannu Cantonment on July 15, 2024, was one of several deadly incidents to strike the district in recent years, reinforcing its role as a recurring flashpoint on the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier. That location matters far beyond one district: instability there can spill into broader cross-border tensions, complicate Pakistan’s counterinsurgency campaign and widen the space for armed groups to exploit weak points in local security.

The assault came against the backdrop of renewed violence between Pakistan and Taliban-led authorities in Afghanistan. United Nations experts said on March 24 that at least 289 civilian casualties had been recorded in Afghanistan since Feb. 26, with more than 115,000 people displaced after fighting that followed Pakistani airstrikes on TTP camps on Feb. 21 and 22, retaliatory Afghan attacks on Feb. 26 and a Pakistani offensive on Feb. 27. Islamabad accuses Kabul of allowing armed groups to use Afghan territory to plan attacks inside Pakistan; the Taliban denies that militancy in Pakistan is its responsibility. In Bannu, the latest bloodshed suggested the border war is still far from settled.