5 policemen on polio duty killed in an IED blast in Bajaur

Five policemen deployed for security of polio workers were killed in a bomb blast today in Bajaur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police confirmed the police personnel were targeted by an explosive device which hit the police vehicle and wounded almost twenty four in the incident.

The police truck is believed to be carrying over 25 personnel when an IED (improvised explosive device) exploded near the truck.

The Polio vaccination drive in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province always faces the security threat. The polio vaccination campaign has been suspended due to the blast.

On December 1, a policeman was killed when terrorists opened fired on a two-member polio vaccination team.

Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar strongly condemned the attack and expressed the resolve to continue the anti-polio campaign with “full force till the complete elimination of the poliovirus from the country”, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

The premier prayed for the martyred policemen and condoled with their families. He also directed authorities to provide all the possible medical assistance to the injured persons.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries yet to be declared free of the wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV-1) disease.

For a country to be recognised “free of polio”, it should show an absence of WPV-1 transmission for at least three consecutive years, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.