TANK: A policeman escorting a polio vaccination team was martyred while another received injuries when armed men opened fire on them in Tank, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) on Saturday.
According to details, the police team along with the personnel of the Frontier Corps (FC) was deployed for the security of polio workers, administering anti-polio drops. The incident took place in Tank, Dera Ismail Khan district of KP.
Police said that the attackers riding on a motorcycle attacked the security personnel, killing one cop and wounding another. The injured cop was rushed to the hospital, while the attackers managed to flee the scene.
Meanwhile, KP CM Special Assistant Barrister Saif condemned the attack on the polio team. Saif said the anti-polio drive will continue despite these attacks, adding that sacrifices of the police and health officials will not go in vain.
According to the CM’s aide, the culprits behind these attacks were the enemy of the country and the nation. On the other hand, the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed that its fighters attacked the polio team in Tank.
In June this year, at least two policemen were martyred in an attack by unidentified assailants on a polio vaccination team in Mardan. Earlier this year, a security officer was martyred in a gun attack on a polio team in Karak.
Extremist groups often target polio teams and security assigned to protect them, claiming the vaccination campaigns are a conspiracy to sterilise children.
The WHO deemed Pakistan and Afghanistan as dangerous countries in a recent statement by the Thirtieth Polio IHR Emergency Committee, stating that the two countries have failed to eradicate polio fully and may be responsible for the virus’s global spread.
Pakistan, on the other hand, has made remarkable strides against polio, as the incidence of Wild Polio Virus (WPV1) cases has decreased to zero in the previous ten months, down from 84 reported cases in 2020.
