Pak officer escorting polio team shot dead

‘No workers injured in attack’

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Feb 26, (AP): Gunmen shot and killed a police officer Tuesday who was protecting a team of polio workers during a UN-backed vaccination campaign in northwestern Pakistan.

It was the latest of several attacks on Pakistan’s efforts to eradicate the deadly disease, found in only three countries in the world. Militant extremists view the vaccination campaigns as Western-backed plots to gain intelligence in sensitive areas and have frequently targeted the medical staff and those protecting polio teams.

No polio workers were wounded in Tuesday’s attack in the Mardan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said police officer Fazal Wahid.

At least two attackers were hiding in a field near a narrow road as the polio workers walked by on their way to visit houses in the area, said the Mardan police chief, Inam Jan.

“The polio workers were going door-to-door and one police officer was protecting them when the gunmen suddenly attacked them near an open area and fled,” Jan said, adding that the police were searching for the attackers but that so far no one had been arrested. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack and it wasn’t immediately known whether the police officer was targeted because he was protecting the polio team or for some other reason.

Janbaz Afridi, a senior health official, said the polio vaccination campaign continued in various parts of the province Tuesday despite the killing. “We have taken best possible steps for the safety of polio teams,” he said.

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