Gunmen kill police officer assigned to guard polio workers in northwestern Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Suspected militants riding on a motorcycle shot and killed on Wednesday a police officer assigned to protect polio workers in a region in northwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, the latest in a string of deadly attacks on polio workers.

The attack in Bajur, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, came just days after authorities launched the vaccination drive. Police official Nasir Khan said an investigation was underway.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

More than 200 polio workers and police assigned for their protection have been killed in Pakistan since the 1990s, according to health officials and authorities.

Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio has not been eradicated. Pakistan reported at least 74 cases in 2024 and two cases since January.

Pakistan regularly launches campaigns against polio despite attacks on the workers and police assigned to the inoculation drives. Militants falsely claim the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.