A police constable was martyrated and a militant killed during an exchange of fire on Monday in southern Waziristan district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, police said Monday.

According to police, the incident happened while the constable was on duty as part of the security arrangements for the ongoing nationwide anti-polio campaign.

Unidentified attacks opened fire on the security team, which received a retaliatory response in which an attacker was killed.

Authorities restored several weapons and objects from the deceased militant, including a rocket throwing, a machine gun, two motorcycles, a national identity card, three ATM cards and a smartphone.

The attack comes a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched the second nationwide polio -extinction campaign in 2025, which is scheduled to run from April 21 to April 27.

Polio workers and their security shirts have often been attacked, especially in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. By 2024, at least 20 people were killed and 53 injured in similar incidents during polio vaccination drives in KP.

Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only countries where polio remains endemic.