10 Police, 18 Militants Killed in Pakistan Ambush
The Facts
- Police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan said late Thursday that 18 militants were "sent to hell" and that 11 officers died in a clash in Kohat. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed sorrow Thursday and stated that "criminal elements and the militants" were behind the unrest.
- Gunmen attacked police officers returning Wednesday from an operation against illegal gold mining in the Gumbat area of Kohat district in northwestern Pakistan, killing 10 officers and wounding 12, provincial police said. Eighteen militants were also killed.
- Hours after the ambush, the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for a series of attacks across the country, including one on a police convoy in Gumbat. Local police official Faisal Khan said two senior officers were among those killed in Kohat.
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The Spin
Pro-Pakistan narrative
Pakistan faces an insurgency run from sanctuaries in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, and its police are paying in blood. Ten more officers died in one ambush. The state has the right to strike the Pakistani Taliban wherever they hide, to demand that Kabul dismantle their networks, and to take charge where a provincial government declined to fight. Firm action at the national level will end the killing.
Pro-Afghanistan narrative
Years of military operations, a war with Afghanistan and the removal of an elected provincial government have not stopped the killing, and ten more police are dead. Thinly staffed, poorly equipped officers hold the front line while Islamabad blames Kabul and its political rivals. Lasting security needs local consent, a funded police force and an end to a militarized policy that keeps failing.
