12 killed in terror attack on polio workers in Pak
Pakistan is one of three countries where polio remains endemic. But militants see polio staff as intelligence agents.
At least 12 people were killed and 10 wounded on Saturday in bomb attacks targeting security personnel guarding a polio vaccination team in Khyber tribal agency.
The blasts in Lashoro area of the tribal region’s Jamrud district were the latest attack on efforts to stamp out the crippling disease in Pakistan, which is one of only three countries where polio re- mains endemic.
Assistant Political Agent Nasir Khan confirmed that 10 members of the Khasadar forces were killed in the attack, which damaged two vehicles belonging to the security forces. A child was also among the dead, said Khan.
Another political administration officer, Siddiq Khan, said that the two planted IEDs which exploded back to back were detonated through remote-controlled devices. One of the vehicles was com- pletely destroyed while the other was partially damaged.
Dr Rehman Khan, a surgeon at the agency hospital in Jamrud, confirmed the death toll.
The doctor said that eight of the wounded were brought to the Jamrud hospital, while two other were taken to the Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar.
Polio persists in Pakistan with militant groups seeing vaccination campaigns as a cover for espionage. Russian population. But Crimea had already begun to slip from Kiev’s control with closure of the main airport and deployment of pro-Russian guards at key buildings. Putin’s statement, and remarks from a pro-Russian leader installed in Crimea this week, effectively confirmed what most people in the region had assumed: that military units who had seized control in the past two days were indeed Moscow’s. Ukraine accused Russia of sending thousands of extra troops to Crimea, largely hostile to the Kiev government which emerged from the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovich last weekend. It placed its military in the area on high alert. After Yanukovich’s overthrow, Crimea quickly became the focus of a crisis bearing perils for the entire region. Ukraine teeters on the brink of economic disaster, mired in debt. Any further spread of separatist sentiment to industrial, Russianspeaking eastern territories could raise the risk of disintegration with serious implications for surrounding states including Russia, Poland and Belarus. Putin turned to the Parliament after a day of events viewed with deep concern in Europe and the United States.