Eleven police officers were killed in northwest Pakistan late Wednesday after militants struck the Khazina Banda police post in Hangu district, near the Afghan border, then ambushed reinforcements sent to the area.
Militants first hit the post with improvised explosives attached to quadcopters, according to a police statement cited by Al Jazeera. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General Zulfiqar Hameed said the post was also attacked with heavy weapons.
Reinforcements dispatched afterward were ambushed en route, severely damaging the lead armored personnel carrier, according to the Express Tribune. Among those killed was DSP Diyar Khan, who was leading the responding force.
More than two dozen officers were wounded, while security forces killed 15 attackers. No group had claimed responsibility as of Thursday. The Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, has carried out repeated attacks against security forces in the region and claimed a suicide bombing in nearby Tank days earlier, but responsibility for the Hangu assault has not been established.
The attack highlights the growing use of inexpensive drones in Pakistan’s insurgency, combining aerial explosives with conventional attacks and ambushes. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police said this month that they had thwarted 341 militant drone attacks during the first half of 2026, underscoring how modified commercial UAVs are becoming a persistent threat to security forces in the province.
