PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) – Militants attacked a health center where a polio eradication campaign is underway in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, sparking a shootout that left one police officer dead, local authorities said. . Three of the attackers also died in the exchange.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Orakzai district, a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban.
Adnan Khan, a local police officer, said the attack occurred in the morning as health workers were gathering before setting out on a door-to-door campaign with police keeping polio teams safe.
No polio workers were harmed in Tuesday’s attack, but another police officer was injured, Khan added.
Also on Tuesday, militants stormed a health center in North Waziristan, another former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, seizing guns from police and forcing anti-polio attacks on medical workers gathered there. Shoaib, a local police officer, said he had warned them not to participate in the campaign. Mr Khan said.
The attackers then left with the seized weapons, he said, without providing further details.
Pakistani militants often target police and polio workers during polio eradication campaigns, claiming the vaccination drive is a Western plot to sterilize children.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in the world where the spread of polio has not been stopped. In severe cases, polio can lead to permanent paralysis and death.
Pakistan on Monday relaunched a nationwide polio drive to vaccinate 45 million children under the age of five following a surge in new infections. This campaign is the third time this year.
Pakistan has recorded 41 cases in 71 districts so far this year, mostly in southwestern Balochistan and southern Sindh, as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and eastern Punjab.
In Afghanistan, local health authorities announced Monday that vaccinations have also begun in 16 of the country’s 34 provinces. Spokesperson Sharafat Zaman said the campaign will last three days and will target 6.2 million children under the age of five.
There have been 23 confirmed cases in Afghanistan this year, according to World Health Organization data.
Source: Post
