Pakistan: A police officer and a polio worker are killed by gunmen
Pakistan launched an emergency vaccination campaign after the first case of polio in sixteen years was reported in the capital. Pakistan launched an emergency vaccination campaign after the first case of polio in sixteen years was reported in the capital.
According to Pakistan’s Polio Eradication ProgramImage: 17 cases of polio have been reported since January, 11 more than in the entire previous year.
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But on Wednesday, during a vaccination campaign in northwest Pakistan, gunmen on motorcycles shot a polio worker and one of the police officers accompanying him, according to police reports.
The attack took place in Bajaur, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border, a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban.
Senior police officer Waqas Rafiq told the AFP news agency, “A polio team was returning to the local health unit after completing their duties when two unidentified motorcyclists opened fire on them.” A third person was hurt, according to Rafiq.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, according to local police chief Abdul Aziz.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister, Mohsin Naqvi, denounced the assault.
