Pakistan gunmen kill eight police officers in Kohat

Gunmen killed eight police officers and injured 13 others in an attack on a convoy in Kohat district in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday, officials said.

A senior administrative official in Kohat told AFP the officers were travelling to an illegal gold mining operation near Gumbat when they were attacked. The official said militants set two police vehicles on fire and that two other police vehicles and one private vehicle were missing after the assault.

A security official in Peshawar confirmed the death toll. No group immediately claimed responsibility.

A local emergency service spokesman earlier described a firing incident involving police personnel and said rescue workers were treating a dozen wounded officers.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa borders Afghanistan and has faced intensifying militant violence. Pakistan says militants responsible for attacks on its territory operate from Afghanistan, an accusation Afghanistan's Taliban authorities deny.