QUETTA, Pakistan: Unknown assailants shot dead a policeman on duty to protect a polio vaccination team in Balochistan’s capital Quetta on Wednesday.
The police sources said that volunteers were administering polio drops to children in Pashtunabad area of Quetta. In the meantime, assailants opened fire at them that left a policeman Zainullah who was guarding the polio volunteers dead.
In the firing, a child who was walking through the area also sustained injuries.
The attackers managed to run away to an unknown location after the incident.
Last year, Pakistan witnessed nearly 300 polio cases and remains to be one of the three countries in the world where polio is still categorized as an endemic viral infection.
But on the other hand, attempts to eradicate the crippling disease in the country have been badly hit by consistent attacks on polio vaccination teams.
The militant groups continue to target polio workers, claiming that the polio vaccination is a cover for espionage or a Western conspiracy to sterilise Muslims.
