Cop guarding polio team shot dead in Pishin

QUETTA: A policeman guarding a polio vaccination team was shot dead here on Tuesday, local government officials said, the latest death in a bloody campaign to eradicate the disease.

The attack took place in Pishin district in Balochistan during a week-long nationwide polio drive that hopes to inoculate 25 million children.“Gunmen on a motorbike opened fire on the policeman who died at the scene,” Yasir Bazai, the deputy commissioner of the district, said.

DPO Abdul Haleem confirmed the incident. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but militants, including Pakistani Taliban, have killed scores of polio vaccination workers and their security escorts in the past.