Policeman guarding anti-polio vaccinators killed in attack in NW Pakistan

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Gunmen on Saturday ambushed personnel guarding anti-polio vaccinators in northwest Pakistan, killing one policeman and injuring another, police and health officials said.

The incident – the latest in a series of similar attacks in recent years – occurred in the remote Taank district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders neighboring Afghanistan.

Armed assailants riding two to three motorbikes opened fire on the security personnel guarding an immunization team on the outskirts of Taank, the police said.

Dr. Ihsanullah, head of Civil Hospital Taank, told reporters that one policeman was dead on arrival to the hospital, while another is being treated for bullet injuries.

The attack comes amid renewed anti-polio vaccination efforts across the country to consolidate the government's significant successes in rooting out the crippling disease.

The South Asian country has not reported even a single polio case this year.

The latest attack came a day after the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a conglomerate of several militant groups in the country, announced it was ending a month-long cease-fire with the government, although no group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

The TTP and its affiliates have been involved in attacks on anti-polio vaccinators across the country.

Pakistan is among three countries in the world, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, where polio virus still exists, and the country remains under a polio-linked travel restriction imposed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

In 2014, the WHO made it mandatory for all people traveling from Pakistan to carry a polio vaccination certificate, although the ban is not being strictly followed.

Armed assailants targeting vaccinators see the anti-polio campaigns are part of an elaborate anti-Muslim and Western conspiracy, and often issue death threats to vaccinators, many of them women, for administrating the vital jobs to children.

According to Pakistani officials, around 100 people associated with the drive have been killed across Pakistan since 2012.