PESHAWAR – A policeman guarding a polio vaccination team was martyred after some attackers fired at him during a polio campaign in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday.
District Health Officer (DHO) Tank Dr. Ehsanullah told the media that the deceased cop sustained gunshot wounds while another person also suffered injuries during the attack.
He also added that the injured and martyred personnel have been shifted to the hospital. Security forces have reportedly rushed to the site while a search operation had been launched to find the attackers.
A day after The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan announced to end the month-long ceasefire accusing the government of breaching terms, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The attack comes amid renewed anti-polio vaccination efforts across Pakistan 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.
Around 100 people associated with the polio drive have been killed across the South Asian country in the past decade.
Pakistan, which has not reported even a single polio case this year, is counted among two countries in the world where poliovirus still exists, and the country remains under a polio-linked travel restriction imposed by the World Health Organization (WHO).
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