Militants kill 11 police in overnight attack in northwest Pakistan

Militants overran the Khazina Banda check post in Hangu district, killing 11 police officers and 15 attackers in an overnight assault that stretched into an hourlong gunbattle. The post sits in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, near the Afghan border, where police positions have long been treated as the front line against resurgent militancy.

The fighting left the police post battered and sent wounded men to hospitals in nearby Peshawar, a sign that the casualty toll could strain local medical facilities as it did on the security side. Early counts fluctuated as the battle unfolded, with initial figures placing the police death toll lower before it rose to 11 and the number of attackers killed was put at 15.

The attack showed how vulnerable Pakistan’s northwest remains despite repeated military and police operations over the years. Hangu’s rough terrain and the porous border with Afghanistan have given armed groups room to maneuver, and the ability of the assailants to sustain the fight for hours suggested a coordinated effort meant to overwhelm a fixed security position rather than a quick hit-and-run raid.

Police said militants used explosive-laden quadcopters in the assault, adding a new layer of threat to a region already accustomed to ambushes and roadside attacks. Reinforcements sent to the area were ambushed en route, and an armored personnel carrier was damaged, underscoring that even the response to the attack was under fire. DPO Tariq Habib said security personnel returned fire during the assault.

The violence was later tied to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, though no group immediately claimed responsibility as the gunbattle was still being assessed. For Pakistan’s state, the episode was more than a deadly raid on a police post: it was a direct test of whether it can hold ground in districts like Hangu, where checkpoints and outposts remain the clearest markers of government control and the easiest targets for militants trying to erode it.