Death toll rises to 31 in Pakistan police HQ bomb attack

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.

The police compound serves as a district-level police headquarters, housing key offices of the Counter Terrorism Department, Special Branch and several other police units.

"Several militants are still holed up in the Special Branch section of the Kohat Police Complex," said a police official.

"An exchange of fire with them has been ongoing since late last night. Their exact number remains unclear," the official added.

Pakistan has blamed a rise in attacks in the region on militants operating from Afghanistan, a claim denied by the Taliban government.

The accusations have deepened tensions between the neighbours, with Pakistan carrying out airstrikes it says target militants in Afghanistan.

The Taliban government and the UN said dozens of civilians were killed in Pakistani strikes in eastern Afghanistan in June.