PESHAWAR, Aug 3: A second child in Taliban militants’ stronghold of Bajaur Agency has tested positive for polio, raising to seven the number of cases found this year in the NWFP and Fata.

Officials of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) confirmed to Dawn that one-year-old Fatima of Nawagai village had been diagnosed positive for the crippling disease by the National Institute of Health in Islamabad.

They said that the child had not been given polio drops because of the Taliban ban on vaccination in the area.

“More than 5,200 children have not been vaccinated in Nawagai locality over the past two years.

The first victim in the area was 16-month-old Mehran Khan who lives three kilometres from the village where the new case has been found. — Bureau Report