A militant alliance led by Hafiz Gul Bahadur has claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a mosque located within a police compound in Kohat, a city in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border. The assault, which took place during Friday prayers, resulted in the deaths of seven civilians and 16 police officers, with at least 100 others reported wounded, according to local police officials.

The attack began with a vehicle-borne explosion outside the mosque, followed by a prolonged firefight as armed militants entered the compound. A suicide bomber detonated explosives near a police intelligence facility during the assault, which lasted several hours. Security forces killed eight attackers in the operation.

The militant group Ittehad-ul Mujahideen Pakistan, an alliance led by Bahadur, publicly acknowledged responsibility for the attack. Provincial police described the assailants as Islamist militants but did not specify a particular faction. Experts warn the operation underscores the network’s growing ability to execute complex operations targeting security forces.

Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a long-standing militant leader in the region, first gained prominence during the U.S. war in Afghanistan as a local Taliban commander in North Waziristan. His fighters historically targeted U.S. and NATO forces across the border. Although closely allied with the Taliban, Bahadur’s faction maintained a truce with Pakistan’s government, earning his group the moniker “the good Taliban” for its relative restraint within Pakistan.

Bahadur has survived numerous counterterrorism efforts, including a U.S. drone strike in 2011. His group remained mostly inactive after a major Pakistani military offensive in 2014 pushed militants from North Waziristan into Afghanistan. However, the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s return to power reversed much of that trajectory.

Since then, Bahadur has rebuilt his network from bases in Afghanistan, forming alliances with various militant factions in Pakistan’s tribal areas. His group, distinct from the Pakistan Taliban, has engaged in a series of violent attacks on Pakistani security forces, including suicide bombings and ambushes. Different from the Pakistani Taliban, which claims to avoid civilian targets, Bahadur’s alliance has carried out attacks affecting both military and civilian populations.

Regional analysts observe that the recent mosque attack represents an effort to demonstrate strength and bolster recruitment amid rising militant violence in western Pakistan. The incident adds to escalating tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, with Islamabad accusing Kabul’s Taliban government of supporting cross-border attacks—a charge denied by Afghan officials.

The United Nations has noted ties between Bahadur’s network and Al Qaeda affiliates in the region, highlighting the alliance’s role in several suicide attacks against Pakistani forces this year. Security experts warn that the resurgence of Bahadur’s group poses a significant challenge to Pakistan’s already strained counterterrorism efforts in the volatile border territory.