10 police, 18 militants killed in Pakistan during operation against illegal gold mining

Detailed summary

Officers were returning from a mine in the Gumbat area of Kohat district when militants opened fire on them, police say ...

Gunmen attacked police during an operation against illegal gold mining in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing 10 officers, while 18 militants 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 militants opened fire on them.

In addition to the 10 police and 18 militant deaths, 12 police personnel were wounded, the police statement said.

In the aftermath of the clashes, the Pakistani Taliban, the Tehreek-e-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 militants 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 militants belonging to the TTP were killed during a separate operation in the district.

A large quantity of weapons was also recovered from the militants, the official added.

Security forces are battling an intensifying militancy in the border province they say emanates from Afghanistan -- an accusation its Taliban government denies.

A spokesman 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.

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