dpa
Islamabad
Armed militants attacked polio vaccination teams in north-western Pakistan on Monday, hours after the health workers fanned out across the country for the last nationwide vaccination drive of 2024.
A policeman guarding the health workers was killed and a health worker was wounded in Karak district. In a separate attack in the Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, another health worker was wounded, a local police official said.
The attacks on the first day of the vaccination campaign reflect how a surge in violence in recent months has contributed to a spike in new cases of the crippling disease. Pakistan conducts periodic immunization drives, but health-care workers are often targeted by Islamist militants linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Militants have killed dozens of health-care staff during vaccination campaigns over the years.
The militants accuse health-care workers of acting as spies and claim that the polio vaccine is intended to make Muslim children sterile.
The vaccination drive, according to the Health Ministry, will target more than 44 million children under the age of 5 in 143 districts of the country.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif administered vaccine drops to children while urging parents to get their children vaccinated.