The death toll from the assault on Kohat Police Lines in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has climbed to 31 killed and more than 70 injured, according to the latest reports, as authorities continue confirming casualties from Friday's attack and the grueling 21-hour clearance operation that followed. The violence began when an Afghan national rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a mosque inside the police compound during Friday prayers, after which gunmen stormed the site and battled Pakistani security forces, including special forces units, well into the following day. Among the injured was the Additional Inspector General of the Counter-Terrorism Department, who sustained a hand injury during the operation. All eight militants involved in the assault were killed by the time the clearance operation concluded.

The attack was claimed by Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan, a faction with reported ties to the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, and officials say the involvement of an Afghan national has renewed longstanding accusations from Islamabad that Afghan soil continues to be used to plan and stage cross-border attacks. The assault fits a broader pattern of persistent militancy in northwest Pakistan, a region that has endured years of blowback from militant networks operating near the Afghan border, networks Pakistan has at times been accused of tolerating or indirectly supporting in the past. As the death toll continues to be finalized, the attack stands as one of the deadliest to hit Kohat in recent memory, deepening pressure on Pakistani authorities to address the security gaps along its western frontier.