5 policemen injured in attack on van escorting polio workers in northwest Pakistan

Pakistan is one of the two polio-endemic countries in the world along with its neighbour Afghanistan.Attempts to eradicate the crippling disease have been seriously hampered by deadly targeting of vaccination teams in recent years by militants, who oppose the drives, claiming that the polio drops cause infertility.

Five policemen were injured on Thursday when unidentified gunmen attacked a police van escorting a polio vaccination team in northwest Pakistan, officials said.

The police convoy was going towards a nearby polio vaccination site when about six to eight suspected militants attacked them with guns and hand grenades near a bridge in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Dera Ismail Khan district, they said.

The militants threw hand grenades at the van and opened fire, injuring five policemen. One of the attackers was also injured in the retaliatory fire. The attackers fled taking the injured companion along with them.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack but militants have continued targeting polio vaccination teams in recent years.

Last month, unknown assailants opened fire at a police officer who was reviewing security arrangements made for a team of polio vaccination workers in northwest Pakistan.

The latest five-day anti-polio campaign started this week, the first in 2023. Pakistan is one of the two polio-endemic countries in the world along with its neighbour Afghanistan.

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

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