PESHAWAR, Nov 30: Suspected militants fired on policemen protecting a team of polio workers in a suburb of the city on Saturday, killing one and wounding another.

The attack took place when the vaccinators were returning after administering anti-polio drops in Qamar Din Ghari area, police spokesman Mohammad Alam Khan said.

Two men, armed with pistols and riding a motorcycle, fired at the policemen from a close range and escaped towards the city, he said. The policemen were taken to Lady Reading Hospital where one of them, Zakir Khan, was pronounced dead.

The condition of the other policeman, Yaqoob, was said to be stable.

A hospital source said that policemen had suffered bullet injuries in the heads.

An official said it was the fifth attack on vaccinators and their police guards in Peshawar district this year.

Police said they had mounted a search in the area but could not get any clue about the assailants. “We have beefed up security, particularly at the exit points of the city, to look for suspects,” officials said.

Funeral prayer of Zakir Khan was offered at Malik Saad Khan police lines.

AP adds: No group claimed responsibility but militants have killed more than a dozen polio workers and police personnel protecting them over the last year in Pakistan.

They accuse health workers of acting as spies for United States and claim the vaccine is intended to make children sterile.

Pakistan is one of only three countries where the virus is still endemic.

BOMB BLAST: A man was injured when an improvised explosive device went off in a building in Baghwanan Bazaar in a suburb of Peshawar.

Said Gul, the injured, told police he was sitting in the building when a blast took place. He said he had no enmity with any one.

Bomb disposal squad experts described the blast as of minor intensity.