Three unknown assailants attacked a polio vaccination team and two police officers accompanying them in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, authorities said. The attack took place on the Qambrani road in Quetta.
The vaccine workers, several of whom were women, and the police officers were unharmed. According to the police, one of the attackers was hurt when the officers opened fire on them, and the other three managed to leave.
“Three armed men were riding a motorbike. When they were about to open fire on the polio vaccination crew, the policeman, thinking something was awry, fired first. One of the attackers was hurt, and the other two were terrified. The three were able to flee the scene”, said senior police official Rahim Khan.
On Tuesday, two police officers accompanying a polio vaccination team were gunned murdered in Quetta’s Nawan Killi neighborhood.
Attacks on polio vaccination workers are common in Pakistan. Terrorist assaults against its polio vaccine campaign have occurred in several parts of the country, most notably in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Even in Pakistan’s largest metropolis, Karachi, polio vaccine workers and the police officers who accompany them have come under attack.
Many religious leaders and terrorist organizations have accused polio vaccine teams of pursuing a Western agenda and claiming that polio drops render youngsters infertile.
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