Two officers protecting Pakistan polio workers killed

In two separate attacks, gunmen shot and killed two police officers guarding polio vaccination teams in northwestern Pakistan before fleeing, authorities said.

Police officer Zafar Khan said the attacks took place in two districts of Bajaur, a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, as Pakistan launched a new campaign to vaccinate 19 million children across the country against polio in a bid to eliminate the paralyzing disease.

Khan said the attacks took place as police officers were returning home after protecting polio teams.

Health workers and police officers tasked with protecting them are frequently targeted by militants who claim vaccination campaigns are part of a foreign plot to sterilize children.

More than 200 polio workers and the police officers assigned to protect them have been killed in Pakistan since the 1990s, according to officials.

In his statement, Interior Minister Muhsin Naqvi condemned Monday’s attacks and expressed his condolences to the families of the killed police officers.

No group immediately claimed responsibility.

According to the World Health Organization, the only countries where polio has not been eradicated remain Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan.