PESHAWAR, (Pakistan): Gunmen in northwest Pakistan killed a police officer guarding polio vaccinators on Tuesday (Oct 14), police said, on the second day of a nationwide campaign to counter rising cases.
Pakistan is one of two countries, along with Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic but militants have killed hundreds of police officers and health workers over the past decade as part of a campaign against the Pakistani state.
"Two unidentified men on a motorcycle opened fire and killed the police officer assigned to protect the polio team," Naseer Khan, a police officer stationed in Swat where the attack happened told AFP.
"The polio team is completely safe," Khan added.
The Pakistani Taliban are the most active militants, but no group has yet claimed the attack.
Pakistan recorded a surge in polio cases last year, with 74 infections reported, compared to just six in 2023.
So far this year, 29 polio cases have been recorded, with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa accounting for 18 cases, the highest in the country.
Polio, a highly infectious virus mainly affecting children under five, can result in lifelong paralysis but is easily prevented by the oral administration of a few drops of a vaccine.
There is a raft of misinformation circulating about the vaccine in rural Pakistan, including that it is a CIA plot to stop Muslims from having children.
The attack comes a month after the government rolled out the HPV drive to protect Pakistani girls from cervical cancer, which was plagued by misinformation. - AFP
