Pakistani security personnel martyred, another injured in North Waziristan attack on polio team

QUETTA – A security personnel has been martyred in an attack on a polio team by armed men, it emerged on Wednesday in the mountainous area of North Waziristan.

Media reports suggest that assailants attacked an anti-polio team in the Spinwam area of the North Waziristan district. One embraced martyrdom while the other suffered injuries as militants sprayed bullets.

Security forces deployed on polio duty retaliated and a search operation was started shortly to nab the perpetrators responsible for this latest attack on the polio team.

It has been learnt that the wounded security personnel was rushed to nearby hospital for medical aid.

The attack comes on the heels of a special anti-polio drive which off in southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The recent attack hampers efforts to consolidate the government's successes in rooting out the crippling disease.

The attackers targeting vaccinators see the anti-polio campaigns are part of an elaborate anti-Muslim and Western conspiracy and often issue death threats to vaccinators.

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.