Blast at historic police HQ in Pakistan kills 8

An explosion at a historic police headquarters in Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, on Friday claimed at least eight lives and injured 35 others, officials reported. Rescue 1122 teams are actively engaged in a search-and-rescue operation at the scene, with over 45 personnel deployed to the site. Provincial police chief Zulfiqar Hameed confirmed the casualty figures, though he provided no further details on the distribution between police and civilian casualties.

The investigation into the cause of the blast is underway. No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the region has been under the influence of the Islamist militant group Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). President Asif Ali Zardari expressed regret over the casualties, urging for the complete elimination of terrorists operating with foreign backing for national security.

Pakistan has attributed the rise in attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southern border province of Balochistan to militancy originating from Afghanistan, leading to a tense situation between the two neighboring countries. The Taliban government in Kabul and the UN have denounced the Pakistani airstrikes, claiming civilian casualties in the latest operations targeting militants in eastern Afghanistan in June.