Polio team possible target in Lakki Marwat suicide bombing

Polio team 'left the area after covering missed children'; officials claim attack not linked to vaccination drive

PESHAWAR: A suicide bombing was reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Lakki Marwat district on Thursday with speculation rife over the possible target being a polio vaccination team.

Police said the suicide bomber was the only casualty of the blast which occurred in Hati Khan village in Union Council Nara Abu Samand.

An official involved in anti-polio efforts said a team of vaccinators "had left the area after covering missed children" and that "all teams are perfectly safe".

"Teams from the affected union councils have been called back to the support centre and missed children coverage will resume after security clearance. Catch up in rest of Lakki district continues," the official said.



PHOTO: EXPRESS

Lakki Marwat District Police Officer Qasim Khan initially said the bomber had missed the polio team due to heightened security.

However, he and the area's deputy commissioner later claimed the suicide bombing was not linked to the ongoing vaccination drive.

Teams of the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) and other law enforcement agencies cleared the area after a thorough sweep.



The suicide blast came just a day after gunmen killed two policemen in an attack on a polio vaccination security team in K-P's Lower Dir district.

Two men riding a motorbike carried out the attack at the Lal Qila area, which is near the border with Afghanistan.

The policemen were part of a nationwide drive launched this week to inoculate tens of millions of children in Pakistan – one of only two countries where the crippling disease remains endemic.

The attacks come during a devastating year in Pakistan’s long fight against the disease, with at least 104 cases reported in 2019 so far. Last year, just 12 cases were reported.

Vaccination campaigns have faced stubborn resistance for years in Pakistan, with many refusing to have their children inoculated because of misinformation and conspiracy theories.

But as the country tries to reach its goal of eliminating polio from its territory, a new challenge has emerged in the form of a growing global movement against vaccinations.

The phenomenon has attracted adherents worldwide, fuelled by medically baseless claims and proliferated by social media resulting in a resurgence of once-eradicated, highly-contagious diseases.

Thursday marked the fourth day of a five-day polio campaign currently under way in the country.

Around 22,925 teams have been constituted to vaccinate 6.75 million children below the age of five.

The campaign is focused on reaching and vaccinating every child in order to stop the transmission of the virus as well as its outbreak in the region.