UN suspends polio drive after gunmen kill eight
The United Nations suspended its polio vaccination drive in Pakistan on Wednesday after eight people involved in the effort were shot dead in the past two days, a UN official said.
The suspension was a grave blow to the drive to bring an end to the scourge of polio in Pakistan, one of only three countries where the crippling disease still survives.
On Wednesday, gunmen shot at a woman working on the campaign in northwest Pakistan, killing her and her driver, one of five attacks during the day on polio workers. A male polio immunization worker was critically wounded in one of the shootings.
Six other people who were working on the immunization program were killed this week. No one has claimed responsibility, but some Islamic extremists allege that the UN program, jointly conducted with the Pakistani government, is a cover for espionage.
At the United Nations, Secretary General Ban Kimoon condemned the killing as “cruel, senseless and inexcusable.” He said the eight workers were among thousands across Pakistan “working selflessly to achieve the historic goal of polio eradication.”
Prevention efforts have managed to reduce the number of cases in Pakistan by around 70 per cent this year compared to 2011, but the recent violence threatens to reverse that.