Polio worker shot dead in Pakistan
Peshawar: A member of the anti-polio vaccination team was gunned down by unknown gunmen while he was administering vaccines to children in the restive northwest tribal region of Pakistan, one of the last frontier where the crippling disease still remains endemic.
The anti-polio vaccination team came under firing by unknown gunmen in Jamrud area of khyber Agency bordering Afghanistan, officials said.
One of the injured worker was rushed to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, they said.
Polio workers have long been targeted in the country by Islamist groups including the Taliban militants which claim that the polio immunisation drive is a front for espionage or a conspiracy to sterilise Muslims.
In January, at least 15 people, including 12 policemen and a paramilitary soldier, were killed in a suicide bombing targeting polio workers in Quetta.
Another seven policemen were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in two separate attacks during a polio campaign in April.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio remains endemic.
Children in Pakistan's Federally-Administered Tribal Areas cannot be vaccinated as the outlawed Taliban has banned the campaigns since June 2012.