Gunmen kill polio worker, policeman in Bajaur district

PESHAWAR: Unidentified gunmen killed a polio worker and a policeman escorting the team in the Malasaid area of Salarzai tehsil in Bajaur district on Wednesday.

Pakistan has launched a nationwide polio vaccination campaign after 17 cases of the crippling disease were reported across the country this year.

No group has claimed responsibility for the latest attack.

Previously, the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan militants targeted polio vaccination teams in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baloch.

“The attack on the polio vaccination team happened at 12pm in the Malasaid area of Salarzai tehsil in Bajaur district,” Muhammad Israr, a police spokesperson in the area, told Arab News.

“One polio worker and a policeman were killed when they were going from door-to-door to administer vaccine to children.”

This was the second attack on a polio team in KP within the last two days.

Israr said the police were continuing their investigation into the latest attack, adding the funeral prayers for the policeman killed today had been offered at the Khar Police Station.

On September 9, a police vehicle escorting vaccination workers was targeted by an improvised explosive device in South Waziristan district, injuring at least 13 people.

Prior to that, in July, two policemen protecting polio vaccination teams were injured in separate incidents by unknown militants in Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts in northwest Pakistan, according to Arab News. Similarly, in January, five policemen were killed and 22 others injured in a blast targeting a polio team in the Mamund region of Bajaur district.