When the guns finally fell silent at the Khazina Banda Police Checkpost in Hangu, nine police officers had laid down their lives defending their post. Dozens of others were nursing injuries, families were mourning their dead, and yet, before the grief had even settled, the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had already begun fighting a different battle—one for public perception.
Within hours of the July 29 attack, the terrorist organization released professionally produced videos showing terrorists distributing cash to a handful of injured. The message was carefully crafted: portray the organization as compassionate, generous and close to the people.
But no camera angle, no edited footage and no carefully staged act of charity can erase what happened in Hangu.
The blood on the ground tells a different story.
The Attack That Claimed Nine Lives
The assault on the Khazina Banda Police Checkpost in Hangu was not a random act of violence. It was a coordinated terrorist operation.
Heavily armed terrorists stormed the check post before launching an ambush on police reinforcements rushing to defend their colleagues. The terrorists sought to overwhelm the security personnel through surprise and numbers.
Instead, they encountered fierce resistance.
Officers of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police stood their ground, engaging the terrorists in an intense firefight that lasted several hours. Despite suffering heavy casualties, they repelled the assault and killed 15 terrorists, forcing the remaining attackers to retreat.
The cost of that resistance was immense.
Nine police officers embraced martyrdom, including Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Diyar Khan, who led from the front until his last breath. Another 28 police personnel, including DSP Mujahid Hussain, were injured while defending the check post and preventing the terrorists from advancing further.
For Pakistan, it was another painful reminder that the country’s war against terrorism continues to demand extraordinary sacrifice from those standing on the front lines.
If the attack followed a familiar pattern, so did what came next.
Almost immediately after the assault, the banned TTP’s propaganda network shifted into overdrive.
Videos appeared across social media platforms showing masked terrorists handing out cash to injured civilians. The production quality was polished, the messaging carefully scripted and the objective unmistakable—to replace images of bloodshed with images of generosity.
It was not the first time a terrorist organisation had attempted to soften its image after carrying out a deadly attack.
Around the world, terrorist groups have long understood that propaganda can sometimes be as valuable as bullets. Winning sympathy, intimidating opponents and attracting recruits often depends as much on controlling the narrative as it does on violence itself.
The Hangu videos fit neatly into that strategy.
What the Cameras Don’t Show
The carefully edited footage, however, leaves out the most important part of the story.
It does not show the families preparing funerals for police officers who never returned home.
It does not show the hospital wards where wounded officers continue to recover.
It does not show the children who lost fathers, the parents who buried sons or the communities left traumatised by yet another terrorist attack.
For years, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has been associated with suicide bombings, attacks on police stations and military installations, targeted assassinations, kidnappings, extortion and assaults on civilians across Pakistan. Entire communities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have lived through the consequences of that violence.
Against that backdrop, a staged distribution of cash does little to alter public memory.
The Cost of Terrorism
The money displayed in these videos also raises important questions.
The banned terrorist organization TTP, sustain itself through criminal economies built on extortion, kidnapping for ransom, smuggling and other illicit activities and foreign funding. Those same financial networks are used to purchase weapons, recruit operatives and finance propaganda designed to reshape public opinion.
Whatever message the videos were intended to send, they cannot be separated from the violence that made them possible.
For communities that have spent years resisting terrorist intimidation, such displays are unlikely to outweigh lived experience.
The Price Paid by KP Police
The battle at Khazina Banda was not an isolated tragedy. It was another chapter in a struggle that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police have been fighting for decades.
Since 1970, 2,659 KP Police personnel have embraced martyrdom in the line of duty. Of those, 2,413 have lost their lives since 2001, when Pakistan entered a prolonged campaign against terrorism.
Those numbers tell the story of an institution that has repeatedly found itself confronting heavily armed terrorists in some of the country’s most volatile regions.
The officers who fought at Khazina Banda became part of that legacy.
Outnumbered and under sustained attack, they prevented the terrorists from overrunning the check post. Their resistance ensured that the assault ended in failure for the attackers, even though the price was measured in lives.
Why the Narrative Isn’t Working
The TTP’s latest media campaign also reflects a broader reality.
Terrorist organizations increasingly rely on digital platforms to shape perception, recruit sympathizers and project strength. Yet public opinion is rarely formed by carefully edited videos alone.
Across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, people remember the bombed schools, the attacks on mosques, the targeted killings of tribal elders, the extortion of businesses and the years of fear that terrorism imposed on everyday life.
Those experiences cannot be overwritten by a few minutes of professionally produced content.
For many Pakistanis, the Hangu attack reinforced an old truth: terrorist organizations may attempt to change their image, but changing their image is not the same as changing their actions.
The Story History Will Remember
Long after the propaganda videos disappear from social media timelines, the events at Khazina Banda will be remembered for something else.
They will be remembered for the police officers who stood their ground against a determined terrorist assault.
They will be remembered for DSP Diyar Khan and the eight officers who embraced martyrdom alongside him.
And they will be remembered as another reminder that Pakistan’s fight against terrorism is sustained not by propaganda, but by the courage of those who continue to defend their communities despite overwhelming odds.
The TTP may continue producing videos in an effort to reshape its public image.
But history has a way of cutting through propaganda.
It remembers who pulled the trigger, who defended the checkpost and who paid the ultimate price.
