Pakistan: Policeman Protecting Polio Workers Killed in Terrorist Attack

A policeman assigned to protect an anti-polio vaccination campaign in northwestern Pakistan was killed on Tuesday, as reported by local media citing a police official.

“Two assailants targeted the officer responsible for safeguarding the anti-polio initiative, and he was killed instantly,” said Police Officer Sikandar Khan. He added that “the police pursued the attackers, resulting in the deaths of two of them along with a local resident who aided them.”

This campaign, which began on Monday with a workforce of 405,000, aims to vaccinate 45 million children within one week.

In September, a polio eradication coordinator and a police officer were killed in the same province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Additionally, six policemen guarding vaccinators and three civilians sustained injuries in a separate terrorist attack, according to reports.

These violent events have led to a strike among police forces, who had previously lost seven members in two attacks earlier this year in January.

Since the start of the year, Pakistan has reported 41 cases of polio among children, marking a significant increase compared to the previous three years.