Terrorist violence targeting Pakistan’s polio eradication campaign has intensified concerns over the safety of frontline health workers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with two police personnel martyred in a gun attack in Mohmand and four polio workers abducted by armed men in Tank. Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has condemned the abduction in Tank, calling for immediate and effective measures to ensure the safe recovery of the workers.
In the latest incident in Mohmand district, armed assailants opened fire on a police team assigned to protect polio vaccination workers in the Tamanzai area of Pindiali tehsil. Two police personnel, identified as Constables Zahoor and Arabi Khan, embraced martyrdom, while Constable Sabirullah sustained injuries.
The martyrs and the injured policeman were shifted to the Ghalanai Headquarters Hospital. Following the attack, Mohmand police launched a search operation in the surrounding area to trace the assailants and determine their escape route.
The attack highlights the risks faced by police personnel deployed to protect vaccination teams in areas where security threats continue to complicate efforts to reach children with essential immunization services.
In a separate incident in Tank district, four polio vaccination workers were abducted by unidentified armed men while travelling to perform their duties in Jious village, Sheikh Attar Union Council.
According to police, the armed men intercepted the vaccination team and opened fire before taking all four workers to an undisclosed location. Authorities have launched efforts to trace the abducted workers and identify those responsible, but their whereabouts remained unknown at the time of filing this report.
The incident has raised fresh concerns about the security of health workers conducting vaccination campaigns in vulnerable areas of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where threats and attacks can disrupt efforts to immunize children against the crippling disease.
Reacting to the abduction, Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Faisal Karim Kundi described the incident as deeply regrettable and condemnable. He called for immediate and effective measures to secure the safe recovery of the abducted workers.
The governor said polio workers were performing a national duty to safeguard children’s future and build a healthier Pakistan, stressing that protecting vaccination teams was the government’s responsibility. He added that targeting polio workers was against humanity and the national interest.
In another related incident, two members of a polio vaccination team were abducted in Azam Warsak, Lower South Waziristan, but were subsequently released, according to local sources. The sources alleged the involvement of members of the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), although independent confirmation of the allegation was not immediately available.
Pakistan remains among the last countries where wild poliovirus transmission persists, making sustained vaccination campaigns essential to preventing the disease from spreading and permanently interrupting transmission.
Security personnel routinely accompany vaccination teams in high-risk areas, but attacks on police escorts and the abduction of health workers demonstrate the continuing challenges facing the country’s eradication efforts.
The latest incidents have renewed calls for stronger security arrangements to protect both frontline health workers and the personnel assigned to safeguard them, as authorities continue efforts to recover the abducted workers and pursue those responsible for the attacks.
