Two cops escorting polio team martyred

Two policemen guarding a polio team in Quetta's Nawan Killi area were martyred on Tuesday morning after armed men opened fire at them in yet another attack on the country's campaign targeting the crippling disease.

Police sources said the incident occurred in the Killi Shalam area of the Nawan Killi. However, the polio volunteers remained unharmed in the attack while the attackers escaped unchallenged from the spot.

The dead bodies were rushed to the civil hospital. Police and other law enforcers reached the spot and opened an investigation into the incident.

A senior health official told The Express Tribune the polio campaign was not halted and continued undeterred despite the attack, as it was still underway.

The anti-polio campaign had kicked off in Balochistan on Monday.

Attacks on polio workers are not uncommon. A police constable was killed while on polio vaccination security duty in the Mastung district of Balochistan in May.

Previously, a polio team was fired upon by unidentified assailants in Quetta's Shalkot area in January, leading to the death of two female polio workers.

Simultaneously, Pakistan remains one of the few countries in the world that continue to struggle with poliovirus. Earlier this year, Balochistan Secretary of Health Saleh Muhammad Nasar had stated that, “since January 2021 no polio case has been reported” in Balochistan," adding, “Our effort is to eradicate the virus once and for all.”

“Balochistan should be internationally declared ‘polio-free’ as no case has been reported for the last more than two years,” Nasar said.