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AFP
Chaman
Polio workers across Pakistan were told to remain vigilant Thursday after multiple attacks on vaccination teams killed at least three people this week during an ongoing push to eradicate the disease from the restive country.
The latest victim, a polio worker, was shot in southwestern Balochistan province Thursday morning, following separate attacks targeting health workers in the country’s northwest earlier this week that left two police officers dead. “The attack has taken place in a remote area, and we have received reports that one female polio worker has been killed,” Attaullah Shah, a district police chief, told AFP, saying a second health worker was also critically injured in the attack. The injured worker was later rushed to a nearby clinic before being sent to hospital in the provincial capital of Quetta for additional treatment.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident but militants -- including the Pakistani Taliban -- have attacked polio workers in the past, killing more than 100 people since December 2012.Security officials in Pakistan told AFP that authorities have instructed polio teams to remain “vigilant” amid the violence.
The attacks come days after more than 25,000 children were rushed to hospitals in northwestern Pakistan after rumours spread some had suffered reactions to a polio vaccine. The panic came as health workers were carrying out a three-day vaccination campaign in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, with authorities saying dozens of polio workers have been beaten or harassed.
Chaman
Polio workers across Pakistan were told to remain vigilant Thursday after multiple attacks on vaccination teams killed at least three people this week during an ongoing push to eradicate the disease from the restive country.
The latest victim, a polio worker, was shot in southwestern Balochistan province Thursday morning, following separate attacks targeting health workers in the country’s northwest earlier this week that left two police officers dead. “The attack has taken place in a remote area, and we have received reports that one female polio worker has been killed,” Attaullah Shah, a district police chief, told AFP, saying a second health worker was also critically injured in the attack. The injured worker was later rushed to a nearby clinic before being sent to hospital in the provincial capital of Quetta for additional treatment.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident but militants -- including the Pakistani Taliban -- have attacked polio workers in the past, killing more than 100 people since December 2012.Security officials in Pakistan told AFP that authorities have instructed polio teams to remain “vigilant” amid the violence.
The attacks come days after more than 25,000 children were rushed to hospitals in northwestern Pakistan after rumours spread some had suffered reactions to a polio vaccine. The panic came as health workers were carrying out a three-day vaccination campaign in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, with authorities saying dozens of polio workers have been beaten or harassed.
