Pakistan gunmen kill policeman guarding polio vaccinators, second such killing in 2 days
- No one has claimed responsibility but the Pakistani Taliban has claimed the first attack, which happened on Saturday
- Police guards protecting vaccination teams in Pakistan have come under attack in the past, mostly from home-grown militants
Gunmen shot dead a policeman guarding a polio vaccination team in Pakistan’s northwest on Sunday in the second such killing in two days, police said.
The attack in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa came a day after two men with the Pakistani Taliban killed a police officer who was guarding a similar vaccination team in the same area.
“Two gunmen riding a motorbike opened fire on a policeman who was guarding a two-member female polio vaccination team in the Sheikh Uttar area, killing him on the spot,” said a district police chief, Sajjad Khan.
Another local police official, Amanat Ali, confirmed the incident and said the assailants had escaped.
No one has claimed responsibility for the latest killing, but a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban claimed Saturday’s attack.
It comes after the militants on Friday ended a ceasefire with Pakistan’s government mediated with the help of the Afghan Taliban, accusing authorities of violating the terms of the one-month truce.