2 policemen, polio worker killed in northwestern Pakistan

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - At least two policemen and a polio vaccinator were killed in a terrorist attack in northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border on Tuesday, an official said.

The incident – the latest in a string of attacks targeting vaccinators – occurred in the Datta Khel town of North Waziristan during a vaccination campaign, Shahid Ali Khan, a top administrative official in the region, told reporters.

Another policeman deputed on the vaccinators' security was also injured, he added.

There was no immediate word of responsibility for the attack which came days after the Pakistani government and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a consortium of different militant outfits in the country, agreed on an "indefinite cease-fire."

Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid also confirmed that the two sides had agreed on an "indefinite" cease-fire during the latest round of peace talks held in Afghanistan's capital Kabul earlier this month.

The TTP, in past, had been involved in attacks on polio workers.

Eleven polio cases – all from North Waziristan – of polio have so far been reported in the country this year compared to only one in 2021, undermining the government's successive anti-polio drives to curb the crippling disease.

Currently, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio is endemic.