Health

Policeman killed in attack on polio vaccination team in Pakistan

Multan, Pakistan, Oct 25 (EFE).- A policeman guarding a polio vaccination team in Pakistan’s troubled Balochistan province was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on Tuesday, police said.

However, other officials taking part in the campaign remained unhurt in the attack.

The incident occurred around 10am in Pishin area, when “unknown terrorists riding a bike opened fire on the team and fled the scene,” Muhammed Ramzan of the Quetta police control told EFE.

The official added the policeman shot at died on the spot, and that a search operation was conducted out but no arrests had been made yet.

Pakistan is currently conducting a five-day campaign to vaccinate over 25 million children under five years of age against polio in 83 districts of the country, amid an outbreak of the disease in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province.

Children in Pakistan are still threatened by the crippling polio virus.

The country has reported 20 polio cases, all in KPK, so far this year, after detecting the first case in KPK’s North Waziristan district in April this year after a span of 15 months.

This was the longest the country has gone without registering a case since eradication efforts began in 1994.

Pakistan country reported only one polio case in 2021.

Militants including the Taliban regularly attack polio vaccination teams and police escorting them, claiming the drive is part of a Western conspiracy.

Such attacks increased after the American spy agency CIA ran a fake hepatitis vaccination campaign to hunt for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed by US commandos in 2011 in Pakistan. EFE

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