KOHAT: Relatives of the police officers and residents killed in a deadly gun-and-bomb attack in Pakistan’s northwestern Kohat district on Saturday urged the government to take action against militants, as grief and mourning gripped the area.

Militants stormed the Old Police Lines complex at Kohat, a town of around 220,000 people in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province on Friday during the weekly afternoon prayers.

Police said a suicide bomber subsequently detonated explosives near the Special Branch building, while security forces battled other militants that were inside the compound. A local militant group named Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack.

At least 23 people were killed in the attack, among them 17 cops and six civilians, according to police. Over 103 people were injured in the deadly assault. Relatives of the victims laid them to rest in various areas of Kohat a day after the attack.

“He was a very good friend of ours, Kafeel,” Kamran Parachi said about a cop who died in the blast. “Many other people were also killed, and we are all deeply saddened. The entire city of Kohat is mourning.”

Parachi described the attack as a “very serious incident,” urging the government to find a solution to militancy that has plagued the province for years now.

“Our government needs to think about this and sit down to find a solution so that such incidents do not happen again in the future,” he said.

Umar Hayat, one of the ill-fated police officers injured in the attack, recalled the blast when it happened. He changed his uniform and was midway through his prayers when the blast occurred.

“After that, a wall collapsed on me,” Hayat said while receiving treatment at a hospital. “I screamed for help, but no one came to me for two or three minutes. Then I lost consciousness.”

The police officer said he was fortunate as someone came and brought him to the hospital.

Yasir Mahmood, a resident of Kohat, wondered who will look after the children of the people killed in the deadly blast.

“The government should take steps to deal with such disruptive elements, because their actions leave many children orphaned and women widowed,” he said. “As a result, there is deep grief and anger among the public.”

Pakistan blames the surge in violence in its northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province on neighboring Afghanistan. It accuses the Taliban-led government of supporting militant outfits in carrying out such attacks.

Kabul denies the allegations.