Unidentified gunmen opened fire on polio vaccination teams in two separate incidents in Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday, wounding two police officers, police said. The incidents occurred in the Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts of the province.
of A gunman attacked the team. A policeman escorting the team was injured in gunfire while administering oral polio drops to children during a door-to-door campaign in Shah Alam village in Tank district on the Afghan border. The assailants fled the scene. Police have launched a search operation in the area to apprehend the culprits.
In the second incident, militants opened fire on polio vaccination workers in Kurachi Parishad in Dera Ismail Khan district, injuring a police officer.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Amin Gandapur condemned the two attacks on the polio teams and directed the district police to make all efforts to quickly arrest the suspects. “Polio workers are heroes on the frontline and such cowardly acts will not dampen their resolve to rid the country of this dreaded disease,” he said.
The state has seen a series of attacks on polio teams, recently resulting in the deaths of many, including polio workers and police officers escorting vaccine recipients.
In January, the state’s polio vaccination program coordinator was killed and a police officer was injured in an attack on his vehicle.
Earlier that month, two people were injured when a roadside bomb hit a vehicle in Bajaur tribal area.
According to the World Health Organization, polio remains endemic in only two countries: Pakistan and Afghanistan.
First uploaded: 07 Apr 2024 09:41 IST
