- Two cops shot dead as anti-polio team comes under attack in DI Khan
Unidentified men fired shots at a polio vaccination team Tuesday, killing two policemen and injuring another, in Dera Ismail Khan while the lady health workers remained safe.
According to the police, the policemen were providing cover to the polio team in Gandi Omar Khan area when they were attacked. The injured cop was shifted to a Dera Ismail Khan hospital where doctors stated his condition to be critical, while the deceased were shifted to another hospital for autopsy.
World Health Organisation has declared Peshawar as epicentre of polio in the world while 35 polio cases have been reported across the country.
There was no immediate claim of the responsibility for the attack, but the Pakistani Taliban have repeatedly targeted health workers who are found vaccinating against polio, accusing them of being spies.
The resistance to polio vaccination by Taliban militants stiffened after the May 2011 raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound in northern Pakistan as revelations surfaced that the Central Intelligence Agency had used Dr Shakil Afridi, a Pakistani doctor, to run a fake vaccination campaign to gain access into Bin Laden’s hide out.
Since then, Taliban insurgents have increased their attacks on the vaccination work and issued religious edicts claiming that the United States uses it as a disguise to run a spying network.
