KOHAT: Pakistani shopkeepers and hotel owners this week rued their losses from an attack in a police complex in northwestern Kohat district, calling on the government to recompense them for the financial damage.

Electricity workers repaired power lines and military personnel patroled piles of rubble and blown-out walls on Saturday after an explosion and gun attack at a police headquarters in Kohat.

The attack took place on Friday afternoon and claimed 23 lives, among them 17 police officers. A local militant group, Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack.

“We had a business here. My brother, Zubair, is with me; he also had a business here, and this is our business,” Muhammad Shahfiq, a shopkeeper, told AFP on Saturday as he pointed to a severely damaged structure.

“Everything has been damaged, and the structure has been damaged.”

Imran Ali, the owner of a hotel showed another severely damaged structure that he said was his hotel.

“Yesterday’s blast caused us a very significant loss,” Ali said. “We appeal to the government to cooperate with us and help us recover from this loss.”