At least 16 people, including five police officers, were killed and more than 50 injured in a suicide bombing at a mosque in Kohat, Pakistan, on Friday.

The blast took place during Friday prayers at a mosque inside the Police Lines in Kohat, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The powerful explosion badly damaged the mosque and parts of the police compound.

Officials said an explosives-filled vehicle was driven into the entrance of the police compound before the explosion. The blast brought down part of the mosque and an outer wall of the compound.

Many of those inside the mosque were police personnel, their families and other worshippers. Several people were trapped under the rubble after the explosion.

Rescue teams rushed to the site and began searching through the debris for survivors. Local residents also joined the rescue effort, helping emergency workers pull injured people from the damaged building.

Videos from the scene showed people carrying the injured to ambulances as rescuers continued working around the collapsed sections of the mosque.

The injured were taken to hospitals in Kohat. Some were reported to be in serious condition. Officials said the number of casualties could change as rescue teams continued their search.

The explosion was followed by a gunfight inside the police compound. Police said armed attackers tried to enter other buildings after the bombing. Security forces opened fire and fought the attackers.

Police said the attackers were killed during the exchange of fire. The exact number of people involved in the attack was still being investigated.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing. A later report attributed a claim to Hafiz Gul Bahadur-led Ittehadul Mujahideen, but the claim had not been independently verified.

The attack has once again raised concerns about militant violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The province, which borders Afghanistan, has faced repeated attacks on police, soldiers and civilians in recent years.

Militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, have carried out several attacks in the region. Pakistan has also accused militants based in Afghanistan of using the country as a base for attacks. Afghanistan’s Taliban government has rejected those accusations.

The Kohat attack came a day after a roadside bomb in nearby Hangu district killed six Pakistani soldiers, according to officials. Pakistani security forces have also carried out operations against suspected militants in the region.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and directed officials to speed up rescue and relief work. The Interior Ministry also condemned the bombing.

Kohat is around 60 km southwest of Peshawar and is considered an important military and security area in the province. The location of Friday’s attack, inside a police compound, made the incident particularly serious.

The blast also brought back memories of earlier attacks on mosques in Pakistan. In January 2023, a suicide bomber attacked a mosque inside a police compound in Peshawar, killing more than 100 people.

The immediate priority in Kohat remained rescuing people trapped under the rubble and treating those injured in the explosion. Security forces sealed the area while investigators began examining the scene.

The attack has added to growing concerns over the security situation in northwestern Pakistan. As rescue teams continued their work, families gathered outside hospitals waiting for information about their relatives.