ISLAMABAD, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- A policeman escorting a polio vaccination team was shot dead in Pakistan's northwest district of Karak on Tuesday, the latest attack on efforts to protect children from the crippling disease, said officials.
District Police Officer of Karak Irfanullah told local media that unknown gunmen riding motorcycles opened fire on the cop providing security to the polio workers in the Takht-e-Nasrati area of Karak, a district in the country's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.
The polio vaccination team remained unhurt in the attack, said the official, adding that the polio vaccination drive has been stopped in the area after the incident.
Police have cordoned off the area and started a search operation to arrest the culprits.
Taking notice of the incident, KP Inspector General of Police Sanaullah Abbasi said that the killers of the policeman will be caught soon.
"There are some people who are against polio vaccination and they would be rooted out soon," Abbasi said.
No group has claimed the killing yet, but the Pakistani Taliban has threatened health workers before.
The attack comes on the second day of the country's first anti-polio drive in 2021. A five-day national polio immunization drive began on Monday to vaccinate over 40 million children under the age of five across Pakistan.
Around 285,000 polio frontline workers equipped with personal protective gear will go door to door to vaccinate children during the vaccination drive, according to the Pakistan Polio Eradication Program. Enditem