Fresh attacks on Pakistan polio workers

PAKISTAN: Gunmen in Pakistan opened fire on health workers carrying out polio vaccinations in three more attacks Wednesday, after the killing of six people involved in the campaign opposed by the Taliban.

Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where polio is still endemic, but efforts to stamp out the highly infectious disease have been hampered by resistance from the Taliban, who have banned vaccination teams from some areas. Six people working to immunise children against the crippling disease have been shot dead in Pakistan since the start of a UN-backed three-day nationwide vaccination campaign on Monday. Two workers were giving out polio drops in a suburb of Peshawar, in the northwest, when gunmen on a motorbike rode up and sprayed them with bullets, Janbaz Afridi, doctor in charge of the immunisation campaign in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told AFP.

One of the workers was in a critical condition in hospital after the attack, Afridi said.

Senior police official Asif Iqbal confirmed the attack and said police were investigating the motive and who was behind it.

Two other polio teams were targeted in similar attacks in the towns of Nowshera and Charsadda, police and health officials said, but the polio workers escaped unharmed.

AFP