Peshawar: Eighteen terrorists were killed and at least 11 personnel died when a police team came under attack while returning from an operation against illegal gold mining in Kohat district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday.

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In a statement, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police public relations director said the personnel were conducting a joint operation with the local civil administration in the Darabukach locality near Kohat city.

"When the police party was returning after completing the operation, Fitna-al-Khawarij attacked the police party at the behest of criminal elements," the statement read.

"Police personnel fought the attackers with great bravery and courage, as a result of which 18 khawarij were sent to hell," it said, adding that 10 police personnel were killed.

Fitna-al-Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.

According to the statement, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police and local civil administration had conducted an operation against elements involved in illegal gold mining in Darabo Kuch.

The incident has also reportedly exposed an alleged nexus between criminal elements and Fitna-al-Khawarij, the statement said.

The police team, which was going to Gumbat Kohat area of Kohat district, came under fire in the Darbokach Jalandhar Banda area, located between Kohat and Karak, police spokesperson Muhammad Nauman Zeb said.

The deceased included DSP Gambat Haider Zaman and Sub-Inspector Mukhtiar, Zeb said.

Five police mobile vehicles were also set on fire during the assault, he said.

The police spokesperson said the attackers continued firing at police personnel, resulting in a heavy exchange of fire.

Additional police vehicles were dispatched to the scene, while a heavy police contingent was called in to respond to the attack.

Following the attack, an emergency was declared at the District Headquarters Teaching Hospital, Zeb said.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi expressed grief over the killing of the police personnel and sought a detailed report, as per an official statement issued by his office.

According to Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, the country's security environment continued to show considerable volatility from October 30 to November 5, with renewed terrorist activity in parts of KP and the former tribal districts, alongside intensified counterterrorism operations and changing patterns of militant violence.

The northwestern province has been under governor's rule and emergency since October 11, when the federal government took the measures, citing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led KP government's "deliberate disengagement" from the counterterrorism fight.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Mathrubhumi and is published from a syndicated feed.)