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Officer Killed and Workers Abducted as Attacks Hit Pakistan Polio Drive

Officials vow to keep the nationwide drive going under heavy security.

Overview

  • The attacks, reported Wednesday in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, left a police constable dead, another wounded, and three vaccinators abducted.
  • In Dera Murad Jamali, Nasirabad district, gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on a polio team’s guard and killed a police constable outside a home where workers were giving drops.
  • In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a gunman shot Constable Muhammad Anas in the leg in Hangu, and unidentified men kidnapped three members of a vaccination team in Bannu’s Jhandokhel area.
  • Authorities have deployed about 50,000 police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to protect more than 35,000 door-to-door teams during the April 13–16 push, part of a weeklong national campaign to reach about 45 million children.
  • No group has claimed responsibility, and officials note Pakistan is one of only two countries where polio remains endemic, with more than 200 polio workers and police killed since the 1990s.