PESHAWAR: Two police personnel guarding an anti-polio vaccination team were killed and another was injured in a firing incident in Mohmand district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on Tuesday, while four polio workers were abducted at gunpoint in Tank.
The firing took place in Dog Tamanzai area of Mohmand, where police personnel were heading to perform security duties for the vaccination campaign. Police said the injured officer had been shifted to hospital, while a cordon had been placed around the area to arrest those involved in the attack.
Separately, unidentified armed men abducted four polio workers at gunpoint from Sheikh Otar village in Tank.
KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi expressed concern over the abduction, calling it deplorable and urging authorities to take immediate steps to ensure the safe recovery of the missing workers.
In a statement, the governor said polio workers were performing a national duty to secure a healthy future for children and build a healthier Pakistan.
He stressed that protecting vaccination teams was the government’s responsibility and called for effective measures to ensure their safety.
“Targeting polio workers is against humanity and the national interest,” Kundi said, condemning the abduction and urging authorities to make every effort to recover the workers safely.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also condemned the firing on police personnel assigned to protect the polio team in Mohmand and paid tribute to the officers killed in the attack.
He said the policemen tasked with protecting polio workers were working to secure the country’s healthy future, adding that firing on personnel assigned to guard vaccination teams was unacceptable. Naqvi said those involved in the attack did not deserve any leniency.
Kundi also expressed grief over the deaths of the police personnel, saying they had sacrificed their lives while performing their duty. He said their contributions to the country and nation would always be remembered and called for effective measures to protect vaccination workers and security personnel during the campaign.
The attacks come as Pakistan continues its efforts to eradicate polio, with vaccination teams and police personnel assigned to protect them facing repeated attacks and violent incidents this year. Several polio workers have been abducted, while security personnel have been killed or injured. In some incidents, vaccination teams were directly targeted and their vaccines and other equipment seized.
Most attacks have been reported in KP and Balochistan, including in Tank, Bannu, Hangu, Dera Ismail Khan, Bajaur, Mohmand and Nushki.
A nationwide vaccination campaign launched on November 2 aims to immunise more than 24 million children under the age of five in 97 selected districts. In KP, the drive targets more than 4.8 million children across 27 districts. The campaign follows confirmation of Pakistan’s eighth polio case of 2026, involving a 13-month-old girl from Bara tehsil in Khyber district. The National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication confirmed the case on November 1.
It is the second case reported from Khyber district this year and the sixth in KP. The remaining two cases have been reported in Sindh.
The NEOC has urged parents to ensure that all children under five receive oral polio vaccine doses during the ongoing campaign and subsequent rounds. The nationwide drive is scheduled to continue until November 8.
Between July 2012 and August 2021, local media documented a long series of killings and abductions targeting polio workers, volunteers and their security escorts across Pakistan. In July 2012, a local doctor was killed in Karachi and a foreign UN doctor was injured, and on December 18, 2012, a male worker was killed in Karachi, two female and two male workers were killed at another Karachi location, and a male worker was killed in Peshawar.
Polio vaccination workers and their security escorts have been targeted repeatedly in the last many years. Local media documented dozens of killings and abductions between July 2012 and August 2021. On February 28, 2013, a coordinated attack left 18 polio workers and one policeman dead across the country, and 11 teachers conducting vaccinations were kidnapped in Khyber Agency that November. A March 2014 attack in Peshawar killed 12 people, and a January 2016 blast in Quetta killed 14. Seven police officers guarding workers were killed in Karachi in April 2016. The last documented killings were of two female workers in Swabi in January 2020 and of police escorts in Mardan and D.I. Khan in 2021.
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