By Staff Reporter
PESHAWAR: Three terrorists were killed, and three members of the Federal Constabulary were martyred on Monday when suicide attackers targeted the force’s headquarters in a crowded section of the northwestern city of Peshawar, prompting a swift security response and widespread condemnations from the country’s top leaders.
The assault unfolded shortly after 8 am on one of Peshawar’s busiest thoroughfares, in the Saddar area near a military cantonment. Video footage captured the moment one militant, disguised in a chaddor, approached the gate and detonated explosives strapped to his body. Moments later, two accomplices attempted to breach the compound but were cut down by constabulary personnel. “Initially, three militants tried to attack the headquarters. One bomber blew himself up on the gate, while two others tried to enter the premises but were gunned down by FC personnel,” Peshawar’s Capital City Police Officer, Mian Saeed Ahmad, told reporters at the scene.
He added that three constabulary members had been martyred in the exchange, with two others wounded and rushed to nearby hospitals. A clearance operation was conducted outside the headquarters to ensure no further threats remained.
The Federal Constabulary, a civilian paramilitary force formerly known as the Frontier Constabulary until a government renaming in July, maintains its headquarters in a densely populated zone that includes barracks, hospitals and residential quarters. The attack struck just as personnel were gathering for the week’s first assembly in the main compound. In the aftermath, emergencies were declared at Lady Reading Hospital, Peshawar’s largest public facility, and at Khyber Teaching Hospital.
Muhammad Asim, a spokesman for Lady Reading, said all the injured who arrived were in stable condition.
Monday’s violence marked the second significant terrorist strike on a security installation in Peshawar in recent years. In 2023, a suicide bombing at a mosque in the city’s Police Lines area claimed 84 lives.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued a strong condemnation, praising the security forces for their “timely action,” according to a statement from his office. “Timely action taken by security forces saved us from major harm,” he said, while offering prayers for the wounded and reaffirming the government’s determination to root out terrorism. He vowed to thwart any plots against the nation.
President Asif Ali Zardari extended condolences to the families of those killed. He declared that “externally backed Fitna-al-Khawarij cannot weaken Pakistan’s unity, resilience or resolve.”
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s chief minister, Sohail Afridi, paid tribute to the fallen and the forces in a separate statement, emphasising that “such cowardly attacks cannot weaken our morale.” “Their sacrifice will not go in vain,” pledging to pursue justice for the perpetrators and to wage the fight against terrorism with “stronger resolve.” Afridi affirmed the provincial government’s solidarity with police and law enforcement, saying “every resource available will be utilised to eliminate terrorism.”
The incident comes amid a broader resurgence of terrorist activity in Pakistan, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces. The uptick followed the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan’s decision to terminate a ceasefire with the government in November 2022, after which the group pledged attacks on security personnel. In September, security forces repelled an assault on the Federal Constabulary’s headquarters in Bannu district, also in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where six soldiers were martyred and five militants killed. Military officials attributed that attack to “Indian proxy Fitna-al-Khwarij,” a term Islamabad employs for operatives of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.
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