Cop guarding polio team shot dead

PESHAWAR: Gunmen shot dead a police officer guarding a polio vaccination team on Wednesday in a remote area close to the Afghan border, police said.

Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan are the only countries where polio is endemic and militants have for decades targeted vaccination teams and their security escorts.

Polio has resurged in country, with two cases reported so far this year, and at least 73 polio infections last year, compared to six in 2023.

“Two motorcycle riders opened fire… as a result, the police officer died on the spot, but the polio team remained unharmed,” Niaz Muhammad, a police officer in Bajaur district, told AFP.