At least 31 people have been reported killed and more than 100 wounded after militants launched a coordinated suicide bombing and gun attack on a police compound in northwest Pakistan, triggering a security operation that lasted roughly 20 hours.

The attack began on Friday afternoon at the Old Police Lines complex in Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as police officers and their families were gathered for Friday prayers. A vehicle packed with explosives was driven into the compound near a mosque before armed attackers entered the complex and moved towards police and counter-terrorism offices. Sources, citing a senior police official, later put the death toll at 31, including 16 police personnel. Pakistani hospital and police officials had earlier reported between 21 and 23 deaths, meaning the final toll remains unsettled.

More than 100 people were wounded, many of them police officers. Local officials said the blast caused extensive damage to the mosque and surrounding buildings, while television footage showed collapsed walls, debris and residents helping rescuers pull the injured from the site. Among those reported killed were senior police officers and Dr Israel Orakzai, a paediatric specialist at a local hospital.

The bombing was followed by a prolonged gun battle as militants took positions inside the compound. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police said eight attackers were eventually killed after Elite Force commandos, Counter Terrorism Department personnel and other security forces cleared the site overnight. The operation ended on Saturday after around 20 hours.

Responsibility for the assault was claimed by Ittehadul Mujahideen, a militant grouping led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, according to Pakistani media. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, separately denied involvement when the attack was first reported. Several of these militant organisations operate in the region, some of them with overlapping networks and histories but separate command structures.

The attack comes amid a broader escalation of militant violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Just a day earlier, six Pakistani soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in nearby Hangu district, while security forces said they had killed 10 militants in separate operations in Hangu and North Waziristan. Pakistan has repeatedly accused militants of operating from sanctuaries across the border in Afghanistan, an allegation the Taliban government in Kabul denies.

Kohat itself has been targeted before. In 2010, a bombing near the same Police Lines area killed around 20 people, most of them relatives of police officers.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, President Asif Ali Zardari and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi condemned the latest attack and ordered authorities to ensure treatment for the wounded and investigate how the militants penetrated such a sensitive security compound.

The assault underlines the growing pressure on Pakistan’s security forces in the northwest, where police stations, military convoys and counter-terrorism units have increasingly become direct targets. The scale of the Kohat attack a vehicle bomb followed by an armed assault on a heavily guarded police complex suggests militants are still capable of mounting coordinated operations despite repeated counter-terror campaigns.