Two cops, polio vaccinator shot dead in Pakistan's North Waziristan

PESHAWAR – Three people were killed after a team of anti-polio vaccinators was ambushed in Datta Khel area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s tribal district of North Waziristan, which has been a hotbed of poliovirus this year.

The incident happened a day after Pakistan launched a nationwide anti-polio vaccination drive to inoculate 12.6 million children.

The campaign was launched amid an outbreak of the virus in North Waziristan where 11 cases of the disease has surfaced this year as several parents are reluctant to inoculate their children against the virus.

The polio team was administrating the vaccine to children in door-to-door drive when unknown men opened fire on them, leaving two policemen and a vaccinator dead on the spot. A child also sustained bullet injury during the incident.

The martyred police officials have been identified as Deen Shahid and Raza.

The bodies and injured have been shifted to hospital while police have launched an investigation into the matter.

The southern districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, namely North and South Waziristan, DI Khan, Bannu, Tank and Lakki Marwat, are at the highest risk of wild poliovirus, per reports.

Polio is a highly infectious and debilitating disease that is usually spread through contaminated water or food. Invading the nervous system, the disease can cause total paralysis within hours.

The contagious virus thrived in the borderlands between Pakistan and Afghanistan where militants attacked and even killed anti-polio teams.