The attack took place in the Gumbat area of Kohat as officers were returning from a mine targeted during the operation, according to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police statement. The Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), later claimed responsibility for a series of attacks, including one on a police convoy in Gumbat.

A senior administrative official in Kohat told AFP that militants set fire to two police vehicles during the assault. Two other police vehicles and a private vehicle were reported missing.

A separate operation in Kohat's Orakzai area killed 10 militants affiliated with the TTP, another senior administrative official said, adding that security forces recovered a large quantity of weapons.

An emergency service spokesperson had earlier reported a firing incident involving police personnel in Kohat and said rescue workers were treating a dozen wounded officers.

Security forces have been confronting intensified militancy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a border province Pakistani authorities say is linked to militants operating from Afghanistan. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities deny Islamabad's accusations.

Earlier this month, militants killed two police officers assigned to protect a polio vaccination team near the Afghan border. Authorities placed the province under emergency rule last month, citing what they described as the provincial government's failure to curb militancy.