Kohat: The death toll from a suicide bombing targeting a police compound in northwestern Pakistan during Friday prayers rose to 24, including 18 police officers and six civilians, a local official told Anadolu on Saturday. Tahir Ali Shah, a top official at Kohat District Hospital, said three more police officers had succumbed to their injuries, raising the death toll to 24.

According to Anadolu Agency, the casualties occurred when an explosives-laden vehicle rammed into the gate of the Old Police Lines compound in Kohat district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Friday. Police reported that six "terrorists," including a suicide bomber, were also killed in the incident.

The explosion created a crater outside a mosque situated within the police compound. In a related incident, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's police chief reported another suicide bombing at a Special Branch police building during an exchange of gunfire.

Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi condemned the attack in a post on US social media platform X, stating that Afghanistan "deems attacks on holy places an unjustifiable and condemnable act, and expresses its profound sympathy with the families of the victims of this tragic incident."

In a separate development, Pakistani security forces reportedly killed seven militants in two operations in the southwestern province of Balochistan, as reported by state-run Radio Pakistan.