2 Police Officers Guarding Polio Vaccination Team Shot Dead in Pakistan

Two police officers guarding a polio vaccination team in Pakistan have been shot dead by armed attackers, and four members of the vaccination team were abducted.

According to Xinhua News Agency and other reports, police officers guarding a vaccination team in the Mohmand area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwestern Pakistan were ambushed by armed assailants yesterday, leaving two dead and one injured.

Local police said the armed attackers fled after the attack, and the injured police officer was transferred to a nearby hospital.

Xinhua reported that no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

On the same day, in the Tank district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, four members of the vaccination team were abducted by armed assailants.

Faisal Karim Kundi, governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, condemned the armed attack on the police and instructed authorities to take immediate and effective measures to ensure the safe return of the abducted vaccination team members.

Previously, Pakistani authorities launched a vaccination campaign on November 2 targeting approximately 24 million children under the age of five across 97 high-risk areas for polio outbreaks.

The vaccination campaign, conducted through door-to-door visits by some 200,000 health officials, is scheduled to continue until November 8.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, about 4.5 million children across 27 districts are targeted for vaccination.

In Pakistan, which is classified alongside Afghanistan as a country where polio has not been eradicated, eight polio cases have been reported so far this year.

Six of these patients were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and the remaining two in southern Sindh province.

Attacks by armed groups against vaccination teams and guarding police continue unabated in both countries, which is known to stem from the ignorance and misconceptions of some Islamic clerics and extremist factions.

They reportedly believe that the polio vaccine is un-Islamic and that the vaccination campaign is a Western conspiracy to render Muslim children sterile.

Although polio infection rates have decreased in Pakistan, the virus continues to spread primarily in high-risk areas.

According to official statistics, the number of polio cases dropped from 74 in 2024 to 31 last year.

Polio, a highly contagious disease, can cause permanent paralysis in children under the age of five.

While there is no cure, infection can be prevented through vaccination.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.