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A pair of unidentified gunmen killed a polio vaccinator in central Pakistan on Tuesday in yet another assault on workers who are part of a government effort to curb the disease.
Pakistan is struggling to contain the spread of polio as militant violence and a chaotic political environment hobble the campaign’s progress. At least 268 new case have been reported in the country this year.
Despite the government’s repeated vows to protect health workers, the attacks continue. Taliban militants have targeted workers across the country, accusing them of being spies for Western countries, especially the United States.
The latest shooting took place around 9 a.m. in Faisalabad, an industrial city in Punjab Province, on the second day of a three-day national vaccination campaign.
Two assailants, riding a motorbike, opened fire on a health worker in the Peoples Colony neighborhood, officials said. Muhammad Sarfraz, 40, a local schoolteacher who had volunteered for the campaign, was killed in the attack.
“The attackers shot six bullets in his body and managed to escape," said Ali Waseem, a senior police official. A female health worker accompanying Mr. Sarfraz was not attacked.
Soon after the shooting, officials suspended the campaign in the Faisalabad district.
Jundullah, a splinter group of the Taliban based in the country’s northwest, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Ahmed Marwat, a spokesman for the group, was quoted by local news media as saying that anti-polio workers would be targeted throughout Pakistan.
But police officials in Faisalabad speculated that the attack could have been a result of personal enmity. Mr. Sarfraz had been attacked twice this year, the officials said, adding that the attackers could have used the anti-polio campaign as a pretext.
“We are investigating all angles and possibilities,” said Mr. Waseem, the police official.
Attacks on anti-polio workers in Punjab Province have been rare, officials there say, and most of the violence has been concentrated in the fractious northwestern tribal regions and in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province. However, in some instances, anti-polio teams in Punjab have faced resistance, including some parents’ refusal to cooperate with the vaccination of their children.
Source -> Ny times
Pakistan is struggling to contain the spread of polio as militant violence and a chaotic political environment hobble the campaign’s progress. At least 268 new case have been reported in the country this year.
Despite the government’s repeated vows to protect health workers, the attacks continue. Taliban militants have targeted workers across the country, accusing them of being spies for Western countries, especially the United States.
The latest shooting took place around 9 a.m. in Faisalabad, an industrial city in Punjab Province, on the second day of a three-day national vaccination campaign.
Two assailants, riding a motorbike, opened fire on a health worker in the Peoples Colony neighborhood, officials said. Muhammad Sarfraz, 40, a local schoolteacher who had volunteered for the campaign, was killed in the attack.
“The attackers shot six bullets in his body and managed to escape," said Ali Waseem, a senior police official. A female health worker accompanying Mr. Sarfraz was not attacked.
Soon after the shooting, officials suspended the campaign in the Faisalabad district.
Jundullah, a splinter group of the Taliban based in the country’s northwest, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Ahmed Marwat, a spokesman for the group, was quoted by local news media as saying that anti-polio workers would be targeted throughout Pakistan.
But police officials in Faisalabad speculated that the attack could have been a result of personal enmity. Mr. Sarfraz had been attacked twice this year, the officials said, adding that the attackers could have used the anti-polio campaign as a pretext.
“We are investigating all angles and possibilities,” said Mr. Waseem, the police official.
Attacks on anti-polio workers in Punjab Province have been rare, officials there say, and most of the violence has been concentrated in the fractious northwestern tribal regions and in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province. However, in some instances, anti-polio teams in Punjab have faced resistance, including some parents’ refusal to cooperate with the vaccination of their children.
Source -> Ny times
