Death toll from attack at police HQ in Pakistan rises to 31

The death toll from an explosion and gun attack at a police headquarters in northern Pakistan has risen to at least 31, according to local officials.

“At least 31 people, including 16 police personnel, have been killed and more than 100 injured so far in the militant attack,” the official said, adding that fighting was ongoing.

Attackers stormed the Old Police Lines complex at Kohat, a town of around 220,000 people in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, on Friday afternoon.

Attackers rammed a car carrying explosives into the police facility as officers and their families were praying in a mosque, officials said.

Local militant group Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan, a faction linked to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Pakistani Taliban, has claimed responsibility for the attack.