Unidentified gunmen kill two policemen during polio immunisation drive in Pakistan

Unidentified gunmen on Wednesday shot dead two policemen escorting an anti-polio team during an immunisation drive in northwest Pakistan, police said.

The gunmen targeted the police personnel who were on their way back home after the polio immunisation drive in Rustam village of Mardan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, Deputy Superintendent of Police Shahbaz said.

Police have cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to nab the culprits.

KPK Chief Minister Mehmud Khan condemned the attack on the team and expressed condolences over the death of the two policemen in the incident.

Pakistan is one of the three countries, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, where polio is still endemic.

Attempts to eradicate the disease in Pakistan have been seriously hampered by the targeting of vaccination teams in recent years by militants, who oppose the drives, claiming the polio drops cause infertility.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)