Members of polio team remained unhurt in the attack. PHOTO: FILE
PESHAWAR: A policeman was shot dead and another was wounded on Wednesday while escorting a polio vaccination team in Mardan, local officials said.
No one has claimed responsibility for the killings, but the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) last year banned polio vaccinations in Waziristan, alleging the campaign was a cover for espionage.
Rumours about vaccines being a plot to sterilise Muslims have also dogged efforts to tackle the highly infectious disease.
Wednesday's killing took place in the Parhoti neighbourhood of the town on the second day of a three-day local anti-polio campaign.
"One policeman was killed and other was wounded when two armed men riding a motorbike opened fire on the team comprising two females and one male member," senior local police official, Tahir Ayub told AFP.
He said that the members of polio team remained unhurt in the attack.
A senior local administration Zakaullah Khattak also confirmed the incident.
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the only countries where polio is endemic. Polio cases in Pakistan hit 198 in 2011, the highest figure for more than a decade and the most of any country in the world, according to the UN.
In January two polio vaccination workers, a policeman and seven members of a charity involved in polio vaccinations were shot dead in three separate incidents across the northwest.
In December gunmen killed nine health workers carrying out polio vaccinations in Karachi and the northwest.
COMMENTS (5)
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These people are taking the country to dark ages, they themselves are not educated and believe in hearsay and made up stories. When this disease inflict their children then they say that God has meant that way but the fact is that children are the ones who are paying the price and are disabled the rest of their lives while those opposed it will be long gone.God also say that he helps those who help themselves.
This man, and the brave women trying to give polio drops to children, are the true heroes of Pakistan. These people save lives for a pittance, and as if that's not enough, they have to face the bullets of strategic assets and non-state actors as well.
Giving polio drops to kids has been a problem with Muslim communities for a long, long time - much before the US used that cover against Osama. I think the only explanation is a lack of education and paranoia. For the sake of your kids at least, please, please, find a solution.
RIP
So sad:( may his soul rest in peace.
on a different note, how is this an anti-polio attack? I reckon this was a pro-polio attack. These monsters with twisted ideologies are no better than those viruses they are so keen to save.
You plan to give the child polio drops. They execute giving you bullet drops.