PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Unknown gunmen on Wednesday killed a polio worker and injured another in Bajaur agency, in the second incident of its kind within 48 hours.
The source said that the attack took place in Nawagai area of Bajaur, a tribal region in Pakistan’s volatile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
The injured polio worker was immediately shifted to a nearby hospital for medical treatment.
It was the second such attack in two days as on Tuesday as well two female members of a polio vaccination team and a police guard were killed when unknown assailants opened fire on them in Mansehra district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The Tuesday’s attack occurred when the team was administrating polio drops to children on the second day of a three-day anti-polio drive in the district.
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.
