A police constable deployed for security of an anti-polio team was killed when unidentified assailants opened fire on him in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Nowshera district on Wednesday, police said.
The attack comes a day after a Levies officer was shot dead while guarding an anti-polio team in the province’s Swat district. The government launched a national polio eradication campaign earlier this week, aiming to vaccinate more than 45 million children. A special order was issued for the campaign, deploying 285 police officers across the country to provide security for the vaccination teams.
A statement shared with sunrise.com Nowshera police spokesman Turk Ali Shah said the officer, identified as Maqsood, died instantly when the attackers opened fire on him. However, it managed to protect workers against the accompanying polio.
“The attack took place within the jurisdiction of Nizampur police station,” the statement said. “Following the incident, the security of anti-polio teams was reinforced throughout the area, while the campaign in the affected locality was suspended.”
He added that after the attack, Regional Police Officer (RPO) Mardan Jawad Qamar and District Police Officer (DPO) Nowshera Ahmed Shah visited the spot and reviewed the situation.
“A large contingent of police arrived in the area shortly after the incident, cordoned it off and launched a search operation to locate the attackers,” the statement added.
Law enforcement agencies are making “every effort” to arrest those involved, he said.
The statement further added that the funeral prayer for the martyred constable was offered with official honors at Police Lines, Nowshera.
“The ceremony was attended by police and army officers, political and social figures and a large number of locals.
“The body of the martyred officer was sent to his native place, Khushgi Bala, “where the martyr will be buried with full official honours,” he added.
Polio vaccinators, who go door-to-door to vaccinate children, are frequently targeted by militants, especially in KP and Balochistan. In 2024 alone, 20 people died and 53 were injured during anti-polio campaigns in KP.
Data from September shows that the number of vaccine refusals in KP decreased during the last immunization campaign. However, in some areas, such as Lowi Mamund tehsil, residents announced a boycott of the campaign.
In May, a policeman guarding a polio vaccination team was killed in a gun attack by unidentified assailants in Balochistan’s Noshki district, while another was killed in KP’s Bajaur district in February.
Meanwhile, two more cases of polio were reported in KP in August, bringing the national tally to 23 this year.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had previously claimed similar attacks on anti-polio teams, falsely portraying inoculation campaigns as a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, along with Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic. Challenges such as safety concerns, vaccine hesitancy and misinformation have slowed progress in eradication efforts.
