MOHMAND/TANK: Two policemen were martyred and another was injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire on them while they were on their way to join a polio team for security duty during the ongoing vaccination campaign in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mohmand district on Tuesday, police said.
Headquarters Deputy Superintendent of Police Liaquat Ali confirmed these details to Dawn, adding that the attack took place near the Hashim Kor police checkpost in the Dag Tamanzai area of the Pindiali tehsil.
He identified the martyred cops as Constables Zahoor Khan and Arbai Khan and the injured policeman as Sepoy Sabir Khan.
Later in the day, funeral prayers for the two martyred policemen were offered at the Police Lines in Ghalanai. The funeral was attended by the Commandant Mohmand Rifles, the deputy commissioner, the district police officer and other officials, as well as local residents.
Senior officials laid floral wreaths on the bodies of the martyred policemen and offered condolences to their bereaved families. They also paid tribute to the sacrifices of the policemen.
Separately, KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi took notice of reports about the abduction of four polio workers in the province’s Tank district and directed relevant authorities to take “immediate and effective measures” for their safe recovery.
Police say the incident took place on Monday.
Governor Kundi termed the incident “extremely regrettable and condemnable”, a statement issued by his office on Tuesday said.
The governor noted that polio workers “perform a national duty to protect children and promote a healthy Pakistan” and said the government was responsible for providing security to polio teams.
He added that targeting polio workers was “against humanity and the national interest”.
The incidents come as a sub-national polio vaccination campaign began across the country on Sunday, targeting nearly 24 million children in 97 high-risk districts.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio is still endemic.
On Sunday, Pakistan reported its eighth polio case of the ongoing year. The affected child was a 13-month-old girl from KP’s Khyber district. Of the eight cases, six have been reported from KP — including four from Bannu division — and two from Sindh.
In July, Pakistan told the global Independent Monitoring Board that the country had entered a decisive phase in its decades-long fight against polio, claiming the virus had been pushed into a shrinking number of high-risk areas and cautioning that persistent insecurity, particularly in southern KP, remained the biggest obstacle to reaching every child.
In September, two policemen were martyred as armed assailants fired at a polio vaccination team in Balochistan’s Noshki. Similarly, a police constable was martyred and four others were injured in an attack on a law enforcement party en route to provide security for polio teams in KP’s Hangu in April.
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