QUETTA: After an armed attack on the convoy of the deputy commissioner of Awaran, militants kidnapped a polio worker and three Levies personnel on Monday.

Deputy Commissioner Rasheed Baloch was returning home after supervising an anti-polio campaign when his convoy came under attack in Gishik area. Levies personnel returned fire and forced the assailants to retreat.

But the militants took away a vaccinator and three Levies personnel in an official vehicle.

Calling from an unspecified place on phone, a spokesman for the banned Baloch Liberation Front, Gohram Baloch, claimed responsibility for the kidnappings and said the deputy commissioner was target of the attack.

Meanwhile, a three-day anti-polio campaign was launched in Balochistan, except Sibi district, which is hosting a Horse and Cattle Show these days. A drive will be launched there after the conclusion of the event.

According to the health department, 2,234,276 children below the age of five years will be administered vaccines during the drive. As many as 6,412 teams have been formed to vaccinate children at 781 fixed points.

Special teams will accomplish the task at 281 transit points.

Last year no polio case was reported in Balochistan. Despite that efforts are still required to prevent recurrence of the disease as its virus has been found in samples collected from the sewerage system in Pashtunabad area of Quetta.