Gunmen kill a police officer assigned to protect polio workers in northwest Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Gunmen shot dead a police officer assigned to protect polio workers in northwestern Pakistan, an official said Monday.

At least 11 police officers died this year while performing security duty for vaccination campaigns in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The gunmen opened fire on a team working in the Wargari area of ​​Lakki Marwat district, said senior police official Sajid Khan. One of the attackers also died, while the rest of the attackers fled.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Anti-polio campaigns in Pakistan are regularly marked by violence. Militants target vaccination teams and the police assigned to protect them, falsely claiming that the campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.

A five-day anti-polio campaign began on Monday in nine high-risk districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Health professionals are tasked with administering vaccines to around 3.28 million children under the age of 5. More than 26 thousand police officers protect the teams.

Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only countries where the spread of polio has never been stopped.

O potentially fatal and paralyzing disease It mainly affects children under 5 years of age and is usually spread through contaminated water.