KHAR: A paramilitary soldier escorting a polio vaccination team was shot dead in Mamond tehsil of Bajaur Agency on Wednesday, officials and local people said.

Health workers accompanied by two Levies personnel were going to a village to administer polio vaccination drops to children when masked gunmen opened fire on them in the mountainous region of Damadola.

Solider Nawab Khan was hit and died before he could be taken to the hospital, said Shah Naseem Khan, an official of the local administration.

The other soldier took position and fired back on the attackers but they escaped.

Bajaur Agency Political Agent Syed Abdul Jabbar Shah told Dawn that the target of the attack was health workers but they remained safe because of firing by the Levies soldier.

He said Kalashnikovs, TT pistols, cartridges and masks had been found at the place of the incident.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2014