Aaj English TV

Monday, December 23, 2024  
20 Jumada Al-Akhirah 1446  

Two killed, three wounded in attack on Polio teams

PESHAWAR: Gunmen in Pakistan have continued to attack on polio campaign workers for the third day, and killed a lady supervisor and her driver in Charsadda, reported Aaj news.

The attacks also wounded three more women and a man in Peshawar, Nowshera and Charsadda in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday.

One of the lady worker is said to be critical due to bullet ripped into her head, doctors in Lady Reading Hospital said.

On Tuesday Over four health workers were shot dead during a nationwide polio vaccination drive.

The Taliban banned immunisations in the tribal region of Waziristan, condemning the campaign as a cover for espionage after the jailing of a doctor who helped the CIA find Osama bin Laden using a hepatitis vaccination programme.

Following the brutal attacks, A joint WHO-Unicef statement said such attacks “deprive Pakistan’s most vulnerable populations — especially children — of basic life-saving health interventions”.

“We call on the leaders of the affected communities and everyone concerned to do their utmost to protect health workers and create a secure environment so that we can meet the health needs of the children of Pakistan,” it added.

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said UN chief Ban Ki-moon condemned the “senseless and inexcusable attack on health workers” and was to meet Pakistan’s UN ambassador Masood Khan on Tuesday over the issue.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland also condemned the attacks, saying: “Any attack on health workers anywhere in the world is unacceptable.”