A suicide bombing and gun attack at a mosque in Kohat, Pakistan, on September 18, 2026, resulted in 31 deaths, including 16 police officers, and over 100 injuries. The attack occurred during Friday prayers at a police complex and was claimed by the militant group Ittehad-ul-Mujahideen Pakistan (IMP), a jihadist coalition formed in April 2025. IMP is linked to Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), a group that has promoted IMP as a model affiliate and unifying force in the region. The attack has drawn widespread condemnation, including from the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, and the Afghan Taliban, all of whom distanced themselves from the violence. AQIS also criticized the attack, urging its followers to avoid actions that could undermine their ideological goals. The targeting of a mosque and the high civilian death toll reportedly led to internal disputes among militant factions. Pakistan has accused Afghanistan of harboring terrorists following the attack, a claim that has intensified cross-border tensions between the two nations. Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been deteriorating since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021. Pakistan has conducted airstrikes in Afghanistan, including in February 2026, marking a shift from earlier diplomatic and economic pressure to open military conflict. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since then, but it has been strained by continued cross-border attacks, airstrikes, and retaliatory strikes. The IMP, which has been active in northwest Pakistan along the Afghan border, has conducted several attacks, including a May 2026 checkpost assault and a July 2026 vehicle bomb attack. The group's operations have been linked to AQIS, which has sought to unify various militant groups in the region. However, the Kohat attack has complicated these efforts, as it has drawn criticism from some factions and raised questions about the effectiveness of AQIS's unification strategy. Pakistan is currently facing its most serious security crisis in two decades, ranking first in the Global Terrorism Index. The country's security challenges are driven by a combination of convergence and competition among extremist groups, including local and transnational jihadist groups, as well as separatist groups in Balochistan. The Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), the Islamic State group's affiliate in the region, remains hostile to the Pakistani Taliban, AQIS, and the Afghan Taliban, as well as to the Pakistani government. ISKP's presence has contributed to a trend of extreme violence in the region. Within the Pakistan Taliban-AQIS-IMP axis, competition for relevance, resources, and recruits has also fueled violence, with each group attempting to outbid the others through more extreme tactics. The Kohat attack has further strained Pakistan-Afghanistan relations, with Pakistan accusing Afghanistan of complicity in the worsening security situation. The attack's perpetrators, believed to be operating from sanctuaries in Afghanistan, have reinforced Pakistan's demand that Kabul dismantle militant sanctuaries. Retaliatory airstrikes by Pakistan have reopened the cycle of cross-border conflict, with Afghan forces also striking militant hideouts in Pakistan.