A policeman guarding a polio vaccination team was shot dead on Wednesday after unidentified gunmen opened fire on him in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's Bajaur district.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries where polio is endemic and terrorists have for decades targeted vaccination teams and their security escorts.
Polio has resurged in Pakistan, with two cases reported so far this year, and at least 73 polio infections last year, compared to six in 2023.
The attack occurred on Wednesday during an anti-polio campaign when unknown assailants indiscriminately opened fire on the on-duty officer, Rab Di Mal Shah, in the Dama Dola Serai area of Mamund tehsil, Bajaur. The cop succumbed to his injuries.
District Police Officer (DPO) Bajaur Waqas Rafiq said an investigation into the incident had begun, adding that raids were being conducted to arrest the culprits.
Rafiq told AFP that the start of the polio campaign had been delayed in the district for security reasons, after a rise in terrorists' attacks in the area.
"Despite the attack, the campaign continues in all areas (of the district) except the site of the incident," he said.
"Two motorcycle riders opened fire... as a result, the police officer died on the spot, but the polio team remained unharmed," Niaz Muhammad, a police officer in Bajaur district, told AFP.
Bajaur shares a 52-kilometre border with Afghanistan.
Polio mostly affects children under five and sometimes causes lifelong paralysis but can easily be prevented by the oral administration of a few drops of vaccine.
Over the past decade, hundreds of police officers and health workers have been killed by terrorists in the country.
In the past, firebrand clerics falsely claimed the vaccine contained pork or alcohol, forbidding it for consumption by Muslims.
With input from AFP
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