Gunmen attacked police during an operation against illegal gold mining in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing 10 officers, while 18 terrorists died in the ensuing fighting, an official police statement said.
A statement by provincial police in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said officers were returning from a mine in the Gumbat area of Kohat district when terrorists opened fire on them.
In addition to the 10 police and 18 terrorist deaths, 12 police personnel were wounded, the police statement said.
In the aftermath of the clashes, the terrorist group Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for a series of attacks across the country, including one on a police convoy in the Gumbat area.
Earlier, a senior administrative official in Kohat told AFP that terrorists set two police vehicles on fire during the assault, while two other police vehicles and one private vehicle were missing.
Another senior administrative official in the Orakzai area of Kohat said that 10 terrorists belonging to the TTP were killed during a separate operation in the district.
A large quantity of weapons was also recovered from the terrorists, the official added.
Security forces are battling intensifying terrorism in the border province they say emanates from Afghanistan, an accusation its Taliban government denies.
'Open war'
A spokesperson for a local emergency service earlier on Wednesday said there had been a "firing incident involving police personnel" in Kohat district, adding that rescue workers were treating a dozen wounded officers.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been fraught since the Taliban authorities took power in 2021, and worsened after deadly border clashes in October last year that led to near-total closure of the border.
Clashes subsided after mediation, but the conflict intensified again in February, with Pakistan declaring "an open war" on its neighbour.
Islamabad accuses Kabul of allowing terrorists responsible for deadly attacks on Pakistani territory to operate from its soil. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities have denied the allegations.
Hundreds of civilians have been killed in fighting between the two countries since October last year, according to figures from the United Nations' mission in Afghanistan.
