Three levies personnel injured in IED blast

Two more victims push country’s total to 212.

PESHAWAR:

Levies personnel providing security to polio teams in Bajaur Agency were targeted by an improvised explosive device (IED), while two more polio cases were confirmed on Wednesday, pushing the country’s total to 212.

IED attack

Three levies personnel on duty with polio teams were targeted in a roadside blast in Dabar Qandhar Baba in Mamond, Bajaur Agency on Wednesday morning.

The Khar political administration confirmed the blast, stating the IED was planted along the roadside. Officials said when the levies vehicle was close enough, the IED was detonated. The ensuing blast wounded driver Umar and officials Anwar Said and Rahmanuddin. The injured were shifted to Agency Headquarters Hospital, Khar.

After the blast, security forces cordoned off the area and a search operation was continuing till the time this report was filed.

The attack targeted an ongoing polio campaign that aimed to immunise 224,000 children, said Agency Surgeon Zahir Hussain.



He added 1,600 teams were staffed for the purpose; each including levies personnel, Bajaur Scouts or peace committee volunteers. After threats to polio workers in the agency, the political administration tightened security for polio teams.

On Tuesday, a peace committee leader was killed in a cross-border missile attack on his house early morning. Three Frontier Corps troops were wounded in a similar attack on Monday near the Afghan border in Bajaur.

Attacks in Bajaur Agency have been escalating as Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan and Operation Khyber-1 in Bara and Tirah in Khyber continue against militants.

No respite

The National Institute of Health Islamabad confirmed the presence of the poliovirus in two children from Bara, Khyber Agency.

According to the NIH, the first victim is 12-month-old Mafia, a resident of Akka Khel, Bara, while the second victim is 30-month-old Adil who hails from Kalanga, Bara. Both children had not received a single dose of the polio vaccine

The total number of polio cases in Pakistan now stands at 212, of these 141 are from Fata, 43 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 19 from Sindh, six from Balochistan three from Punjab.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 23^rd, 2014.