PESHAWAR (The Thursday Times) — Terrorists shot dead two policemen and wounded a third as they headed to guard a polio vaccination team in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mohmand district on Tuesday, police said, a day after four polio workers were abducted in Tank.
The attack happened near the Hashim Kor police checkpost in the Dag Tamanzai area of Pindiali tehsil, Deputy Superintendent of Police Liaquat Ali said. He named the martyred officers as Constables Zahoor Khan and Arbai Khan, and the injured officer as Sabir Khan.
District Police Officer Raza Muhammad Khan said one terrorist was also injured and that a search operation was under way in the area.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack and paid tribute to the two men. “The policemen deployed to protect polio workers are striving for our healthy future,” he said, adding that those involved “do not deserve any leniency”.
Governor Faisal Karim Kundi separately ordered “immediate and effective measures” to recover the four workers taken in Tank. He said targeting polio workers was “against humanity and the national interest”.
The attacks have come in the first days of a drive to vaccinate nearly 24 million children in 97 high-risk districts, which runs until November 8. Pakistan has reported eight polio cases this year, six of them in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last two countries where the disease remains endemic.
Police escorts have been repeatedly targeted during these campaigns. Two policemen were martyred when a polio team came under fire in Noshki, Balochistan, in September, and a constable was martyred on the way to polio security duty in Hangu in April.
