PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Sept 11 (Askume) – Unknown assailants opened fire on a polio vaccination team in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, killing a vaccine distributor and a police officer accompanying him.
Two days ago, Pakistan launched its latest nationwide campaign to eradicate the virus, which remains a health threat to the South Asian country despite being largely eradicated elsewhere.
“Unknown gunmen opened fire on a polio vaccination team carrying out a vaccination drive in a subdivision in the Bajaur tribal region,” regional police official Waqas Rafiq told Askume.
No group has claimed responsibility, but Islamist militant groups in the region have previously claimed similar attacks on polio treatment teams and portrayed the vaccination campaign as a Western plot to sterilize children.
Pakistan launched its latest nationwide campaign earlier this week, aiming to vaccinate 30 million children, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world that are still trying to eradicate polio.
Local police unions have called on police to go on strike and boycott security duties for the vaccination drive in Bajaur district following the killing of their colleague.
