Authorities in Pakistan reported Monday that gunmen targeted vaccination teams in northwestern districts during a nationwide campaign against the paralytic poliovirus, resulting in the deaths of at least one health worker and two police officers.
The first day of the nationwide anti-polio campaign was marred by violence after unknown gunmen opened fire at polio workers killing two in separate attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday.
A policeman, providing security to a polio vaccination team, was killed in the Shakar Khel area of Banda Daud Shah tehsil in Karak after being shot by armed assailants.
Whereas one polio worker was also injured in the attack, the police said.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident, a polio worker was gunned down in Bannu’s Kala Khel Masti Khan area while he was on his way to work.
The violence in the militancy-hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, also injured several polio workers and police force members escorting them. There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attacks.
Pakistan has reported a significant surge in poliovirus infections in 2024, confirming 63 cases so far, compared to only six cases in 2023.
On Monday, the country launched a weeklong house-to-house vaccination campaign, culminating the year’s anti-polio efforts. Officials said the campaign aims to inoculate more than 44 million children under five to protect them against polio.
The World Health Organization lists Pakistan and Afghanistan as the only two countries where the potentially fatal poliovirus continues to cripple children.
Pakistani authorities have reported the killings of more than 200 polio workers and police personnel escorting them since the country launched vaccination campaigns in the 1990s to control infections.
