This marks other killing of police officers on polio duty across KP on so many days
A police constable, identified as 35-year-old Maqsood, resident of Kheshi, who was part of the security detail in a polio vaccination team, was killed Wednesday when unidentified attacks opened fire in the Kaahi area of Nizampur, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, police said.
According to the police spokesman, the attack happened while female polio workers administered drops for children in a house. The attackers managed to escape after the incident. A search operation to understand them is in progress.
This marks the other such event three days since the launch of the new national polio campaign. State-driven app reported that a Levie’s constable identified as Abdul Kabeer, which had been awarded to protect a polio vaccination team, was deadly shot by unidentified gunmen in the Swat district on Tuesday.
Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has condemned the attack and hailed the martyred police constable. “Police constable Maqsood achieved the great honor of martyrdom while he performed his duty,” Naqvi said. “An attack on a team that works for our children’s safe future is intolerable.”
Read: Constable Protection of the PoliOvaccination Team Martyrated in KP
“The workers administered vaccines inside a house while the constable was guarding outside when he was attacked,” he said. “The assailants fled from the scene after the incident.”
The government has launched a nationwide polio expulsion campaign and targeted over 45 million children. A special order had been issued to the campaign where additional police officers and staff were deployed. The national polio campaign was scheduled to run across the country from October 13 to 19. More than 400,000 health workers will door to door to ensure that children are vaccinated against polio, according to the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC).
Pakistan is still one of only two countries in the world with Afghanistan, where polio is still endemic. Security risks, vaccine tohes and incorrect information continue to slow down extermination efforts.
Read more: Nationwide Polio Drive begins today
More than 25.4 million children across the country have received polio drops in the latest campaign. In Punjab, 14.3 million children were vaccinated against polio, while 5,019 million children in Sindh received the vaccine. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 3,774 million children were administered polio drops, and in Balochistan received 1.45 million children the vaccine. In Islamabad, 203,000 children were vaccinated, while Gilgit-Baltistan reported 187,000 children and Azad Jammu and Kashmir 481,000 children who received the drops.
Polio vaccinators performing door-to-door inoculations for children are often targeted by militants, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan. By 2024 alone, at least 20 people were killed and 53 wounded during antipolio operations in KP.
September -Data showed a decrease in vaccine endings during the latest immunization drive in KP, although some areas, such as Lowi Mamund Tehsil, so the residents announce a boycott of the campaign.
