Karachi/Peshawar, Apr 15 (PTI) A police constable was shot dead while another was injured in separate attacks on polio vaccination teams in Pakistan’s Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces on Wednesday.
In Balochistan, a constable was killed when unidentified armed men opened fire on a polio team in the Dera Murad Jamali area of Nasirabad district.
Senior police official in Quetta, Asif Khanzada, said the team, which included female workers, had stopped under a shaded area for lunch when assailants riding three motorcycles targeted the security personnel.
“Armed men on three motorcycles opened fire, targeting the police personnel deployed to protect the polio vaccination team,” he said.
Constable Farhan Bashir was killed in the attack, the official said, adding that the attackers managed to flee.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far.
Despite the incident, Nasirabad Deputy Commissioner Zulfiqar Ali Karrar said the anti-polio campaign would continue in the district as part of the government’s nationwide drive launched this week to vaccinate around 45 million children under five.
In a separate incident in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a constable identified as Muhammad Anas was injured when a polio team came under attack on Samana Road in Hangu district.
Police said the constable sustained a bullet wound to his leg and was shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment.
The suspect involved in the attack was arrested shortly after the incident, police added.
In another related development, suspected militants abducted three polio workers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district, police said on Wednesday.
According to police, the incident took place in the Jhandokhel area, where the unidentified men kidnapped the workers who had gone to perform their routine immunisation duties.
The incidents come two days after a police constable was killed and four others were injured when militants fired at a security contingent deployed to protect a polio vaccination team in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hangu district on the first day of a province-wide anti-polio campaign.
Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, besides Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic, as per the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Despite global efforts to eradicate the virus, challenges such as safety issues, vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation remain in eliminating the virus.
Around 50,000 police personnel have been deployed to provide security to over 35,000 vaccination teams as part of a four-day anti-polio campaign across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The campaign, being held from April 13 to April 16, aims to vaccinate about 6.5 million children against poliovirus across all districts of the province, including Peshawar. PTI CORR/AYZ NPK ZH SCY SCY
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