Pakistani policeman assigned to escort polio workers killed

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Pakistani police say gunmen have killed a policeman assigned to escort polio workers during a three-day nationwide campaign against the crippling disease.

Local police officer Wahid Noor says Tuesday’s attack took place in the northwestern town of Bannu.

The incident took place a day after parents rushed hundreds of school children to hospitals in the northwestern city of Peshawar, claiming their children complained of nausea and vomiting after being given polio vaccinations.

According to Shaukat Yousafzai, a government spokesman in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, their investigations show no student suffered illness because of a reaction to the vaccine.

He said panic gripped the province Monday when rumour spread there that scores of children are not feeling well after taking polio drops.

He said a man who initiated this rumour has been arrested.