LAKKI MARWAT: The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) said on Friday that its personnel had killed a terrorist commander in a joint operation with security forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat on Friday.
The CTD said in a statement that the slain terrorist, whom the law enforcement department identified as Zahid Gul, was the mastermind of the attack on Kohat Police Lines.
In the attack on Sept 18, an explosives-laden vehicle detonated near a mosque in Kohat Police Lines, following which terrorists stormed the compound and attacked police facilities. The attack resulted in the martyrdom of 17 policemen and six civilians.
A total of eight terrorists were killed during the overnight clearance operation following the deadly two-pronged assault.
The CTD statement said it conducted the joint operation in Lakki Marwat’s Walai Sagai area on Friday.
“During the operation, a high-profile terrorist commander, Zahid Gul, who was affiliated with the khawariji Gul Bahadur group and the main mastermind behind the suicide attack on old Kohat Police Lines, was eliminated”, it added.
According to CTD, the slain terrorist commander had led the explosive-laden vehicle to Kohat Police Lines on Sept 18.
The statement said he was also wanted by security forces in connection with several other acts of terrorism.
It added that he was also involved in a bank robbery in Balitang area of Kohat, in which Rs6 million was looted. The stolen money was subsequently distributed among terrorist factions based in the Bakakhel and Janikhel areas of Bannu, the statement said.
The slain terrorists remained in contact with the terror outfit, the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, and had been involved in facilitating the arrival of multiple suicide bombers in Kohat.
“Two months ago, he had brought a suicide bomber intended for an attack on the new Kohat Police Lines — a plot that was thwarted”, the statement said, adding that he also planned to attack a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) facility and a police training school in Kohat.
“Other operatives belonging to this terrorist network are already in law enforcement agencies’ custody,” it said.
According to a recent report from the Centre for Research and Security Studies, Pakistan recorded a sharp 83 per cent increase in violence-linked fatalities during the third quarter of 2026, reversing a declining trend reported in the first and second quarters as terrorism and counter-terrorism deaths surged nationwide.
Balochistan and KP remained the epicentres of violence, jointly accounting for 98pc of all fatalities during the period. Balochistan recorded 829 deaths, nearly 59pc of the national total, while KP reported 556 fatalities, accounting for more than 39pc.
On Oct 7, seven policemen were injured when terrorists attacked a police checkpost in Kohat. Later, an official told Dawn that the attack was repulsed, and the injured cops were safe.
It was a day after four Federal Board of Revenue officials were martyred in firing by unidentified men, while a separate attack on a highway traffic police vehicle left a police official martyred and another injured in Dera Ismail Khan.
On Sept 27, 14 people, including two rescue officials, were martyred and 35 sustained injuries after a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a police checkpost in and then targeted an ambulance taking bodies to hospital in DI Khan.