Gunmen kill policeman guarding polio vaccination team

PESHAWAR: A policeman was killed when militants attacked a polio vaccination team on Friday, police said, the latest casualty in the country’s long campaign against the crippling disease.

Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio remains endemic and vaccination teams are frequently targeted by militants.

The latest incident occurred in Malik Din Khel, part of the former tribal border region that was once a haven for Taliban militants.

“Two gunmen riding a motorbike opened fire on policemen guarding a two-member polio vaccination team,” district police chief Saleem Khan Kulachi told AFP. “One policeman died at the scene while another sustained a minor injury,” he said.