Dear reader, online ads enable us to deliver the journalism you value. Please support us by taking a moment to
PESHAWAR: At least seven people were killed and nine others injured Wednesday in an explosion near a police vehicle on its way for security duty for polio immunisation workers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Charsadda district.
The dead included six policemen and a bystander child.
Wednesday’s attack comes only a day after the immunisation drive in Karachi was suspended following the attack on a vaccination team in the city's Qayyumabad area.
The Charsadda police control room confirmed that the police van was attacked in Sardheri bazaar as it was on its way for security duty for an immunisation team.
The police mobile van was destroyed in the blast.
Deputy Inspector General of Police Mardan Range Saeed Wazir said that the bomb, weighing four to five kilograms, was planted on a cycle. He added that the IED was remotely detonated and left six police officials and a child dead.
The injured have been shifted to District Hospital Charsadda for treatment.
In another incident in Punjab province's Bhakkar district, the vehicle of a polio vaccination team came under attack.
The attack left the windows of the vehicle shattered, injuring the driver of the vehicle and a Lady Health Worker.
On Tuesday, three health workers were killed in an attack on a polio vaccination team in Karachi. After the attack in Karachi, the latest in a series of deadly assaults on vaccination teams, the provincial polio workers' association said it was halting operations across Sindh province.
The attacks came just days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar was the world's “largest reservoir” of the polio virus.
Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where polio remains endemic, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria. Efforts to eradicate it have been seriously hampered by the deadly targeting of vaccination teams in recent years.
Militant groups see vaccination campaigns as a cover for espionage, and there are also long running rumours about polio drops causing infertility.
According to the WHO, Pakistan recorded 91 cases of polio last year compared with 58 in 2012. So far, four new polio cases have been recorded in 2014.
Comments (24) Closed
When drone strikes decrease terrorist activities increase.It actually means that the taliban will increase their activities against Pakistan when the US and NATO exit from the area.They are ready to take on the Pakistan army whom they have challenged many times, but they have no answer to drones and are actually scared of it.
May Allah accept their Shahadat and grant them Janah. I think,the enemies of Islam and Pakistan have intensified their efforts to destabilize the country and destroy her economy through acts of sabotage and subversion.
These men/women are our unsung heroes. Where isTTPTI?
Please stop this madness, if you cannot provide security to poor men and women who are trying to help little children scarifying their lives then stop this bloody campagain and take care of priorities of handling the terrorism. Don't force poor people workers to risk their lives anymore.
Why Polio teams are attacked? Please help me understand is vaccination or taking medicines against Islam or is it still the WW II based conspiracy theory spread by Jews in Germany that Hitler government wants to eradicate the Jew population through Poisoned vaccines?? But in Pakistan rulers and ruled are of same faith unlike in India where there was strong opposition of Polio drops by some Muslim organizations, then what is the issue in Pakistan??
What the hell is going on in Pakistan? Polio security team attacked. Shame on you!
Is it so important that we advertise the polio drive and announce it openly before starting? Just keep doing the work silently or find another way to extend the reach of this vaccine.
Door-to-door vaccination workers are being targeted, why cant we just include this vaccine in drinking water, or provide the packs in schools secretly, etc. and overcome this menace.
Why can't you guys think before you order to get yourself and the public in a fix? I'm asking the policy makers and ministers to think out of the box!
While CIA was correct in tracking Bin Laden in some or other way, these are side affects of such operation.
Thanks
Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar is the world's
Special thanks to the fake polio campaign ran by Dr. Afridi and co.
@Karrar Hussain: They are trying to halve the corruption in 90 days.
I have never heard of such attackers being caught. Do they possess superpower to become invisible?
This is really sad. Bill Gate is just wasting his money.
We should go for root cause until we will not given the punishment to criminals the problem remain unchanged. Justice compulsory and punishment in a publicly.
@asgher: You should announce about the polio drive before because it is essential to increase the awareness and encourage people to vaccinate their children. It is not possible to vaccinate by adding the vaccine in water, milk etc. And if you do it secretly you are accepting that you are afraid of terrorists and to the evil. Truth must win and it will win.
Oh God save those people who work for humanity. What is the purpose of killing those people?How would you face the your god?let me know.Yet i hav not see devil..
well an advise to media, kindly dont create hype of something, when you do they are sitting next to TV and see whats causing issues and pain and then they keep on doing it.its bit hard but kindly ignore once you do they will back off..its basic psychology, and thats what they want i,.e making issue into something big
First and foremost, we send our heartfelt condolences to the families of these brave police officers. We also wish to see the injured make a quick and speedy recovery. The terrorists continue to orchestrate these cowardly attacks in hope of destabilizing the region. The series of attacks in recent weeks highlights the need to counter the threat of terrorism. We stand by the government of Pakistan and fully support their efforts to negate the threat of terrorism. Pakistan
Sad state of affairs, health workers getting killed who are there to rescue you. This is what happens when we destroy our own culture for the sake of an assumed identity.
Well done Pakistanis... you are making us very proud. Keep doing such acts so that diseases which have been completely eradicated in other countries can flourish and blossom..
Well done (sarcasm)
It is hard and difficult to find a more meritorius work than a anti-polio team member. But in a failed country like Pakistan this work is a hard, difficult and dangerous. That is a shame.
The problem is that there is a confusion being spread among the Nation.The Army, Goverment and Whole Nation itself is confused whether to attack Taliban or to dialogue.
Wherever you find terrorists, you will find polio and demolished schools for boys and girls.
I can understand why terrorists (& Pakistanis in general) may hate Indians, Americans or Jews. But I can't grasp why they are targetting people who are trying to cure their future generations of a potential lethal and crippling disease. Any organism love their kids, isn't it?