QUETTA, Pakistan: Unknown assailants opened fire at the team of polio vaccination workers in Quetta on Wednesday morning, killing at least four polio workers including three women.
The incident took place near Eastern Bypass area of Quetta, in which three polio workers also sustained injuries.
The assailants managed to escape from the site of incident after launching the attack.
The dead bodies and the injured persons were rushed to Quetta’s Civil Hospital.
Meanwhile, the Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch condemned the attack on polio workers in the provincial capital and sought a report in this regard .
On the other hand, an anti-polio drive which began in Quetta on November 24 has been halted after assassination of four workers, according to the Manager Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) Balochistan
On Monday morning, a three-day anti-polio campaign was launched in eight districts of Balochistan province including Quetta to administer polio drops to 673,842 children up to the age of five years.
The Deputy Program Manager for the EPI Balochistan Dr Ishaq Panezai said that anti-polio drive had been launched in Quetta, Qilla Abdullah, Zhob, Sherani, Loralai, Musakhel and Qilla Saifullah.
On November 18, the minister of state for health Saira Afzal Tarar said in a statement that attacks on polio workers are part of an international conspiracy against Pakistan.
The state minister said that the inter-ministerial committee formed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will take up security issues which will hopefully improve the situation.
