Police Officer Killed in Anti-Polio Campaign Attack in Pakistan’s Bajaur District

Gunmen have killed a police officer tasked with protecting anti-polio teams in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The attack took place on Tuesday when the assailants opened fire on a group of vaccinators and their security detail in Bajaur district, leaving the policeman dead at the scene, local police official Dilawar Khan reportedly said. Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the violence which has become commonplace during anti-polio campaigns across Pakistan due to misplaced suspicions over such measures among radical religious elements that portray it as a coverup plot to sterilisate children in collaboration with foreign agencies. The latest incident brings this year’s death toll of police personnel on security duty for vaccination programmes up to ten, Khan added. Anti-polio activities resumed last week and have now reached the thirteenth round, aiming to inject anti-poliovirus medication into over 4 million children under five years old in high risk districts across Pakistan where a significant number of polio cases continue to be reported despite widespread immunisation efforts by international health agencies. Afghanistan remains another country plagued with endemic levels of the crippling disease, which is mainly spread through contaminated water and affects mostly young children under five years old.