Pakistan officer killed guarding polio vaccination team

ISLAMABAD

Militants shot dead a Pakistan policeman who was guarding a polio vaccination team on Tuesday, police said, as the country combats a recent resurgence of the disease.

Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only countries where polio remains endemic and vaccination teams are frequently targeted by militants waging a campaign against security forces.

On Oct. 28, health workers launched a week-long vaccination campaign with the aim of immunising more than 45 million children over the age of five.

Malik Sikandar, a senior officer in the northwestern town of Orakzai, told AFP: "Two militants attacked a policeman guarding a polio vaccination team."

"The policeman died at the scene. A police team later chased down and killed two attackers and their local facilitator," he said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which has long been a hive of militant activity, including by the Pakistani Taliban.

Pakistan has seen a surge in polio cases this year, recording 41 so far in 2024 compared with six in 2023.

Polio vaccination teams, made up of health workers and police guards, have often come under attack in the restive and mountainous regions bordering Afghanistan.