Gunmen kill police officer protecting polio workers in northwest Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen shot dead a police officer tasked with protecting polio workers in northwest Pakistan, an official said Monday.

At least eleven police officers have died this year during security operations for vaccination campaigns in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The gunmen opened fire on a team working in Wargari area of ​​Lakki Marwat district, police official Sajid Khan said. One of the attackers also died while the rest of the attackers fled.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

In Pakistan, anti-polio campaigns are regularly marred by violence. Militants attack vaccination teams and the police deployed to protect them, falsely claiming the campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.

A five-day campaign against polio began on Monday in nine high-risk districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The health workers are tasked with vaccinating around 3.28 million children under the age of five. More than 26,000 police officers are protecting the teams.

Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only countries where the spread of polio has never been stopped.

The potentially fatal, debilitating disease primarily affects children under five and is typically transmitted through contaminated water.