Militants shot a police officer guarding polio vaccinators in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Karak on Monday, police said, the day after health workers launched a nationwide campaign against the resurgent disease.

Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan are the only countries where polio remains endemic and the vaccination teams frequently come under attack by militants targeting security forces.

“The attack resulted in the death of the police officer at the scene, while one polio worker was injured,” a senior police official told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

The police officer was travelling with two vaccinators when they were attacked by motorcyclists.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in KP, which has long been a hive of militant activity.

The polio campaign has been temporarily suspended in Shakar Khel, the village where the incident took place, but continues in other parts of the province bordering Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur condemned the attacks on polio workers and sought reports from senior police officials. He has directed them to take action against the elements involved.

A press release from the CM’s office stated that separate attacks in Karak and Bannu districts killed a policeman and injuries to two polio workers.

In response to the incidents, CM Gandapur has called for measures to enhance the security of anti-polio teams operating in the region.

“Those who attack the anti-polio teams are enemies of our children’s secure future,” the chief minister said, “front-line anti-polio workers are our heroes and benefactors.”

Pakistan has seen a surge in polio cases this year, recording 63 this year compared with six in 2023.

On Monday, the federal government launched a four-day campaign that will cover 143 districts across the country, with over 400,000 polio workers going door-to-door aiming to immunise more than 45 million children over the age of five.

Also, read this

Quetta suicide blast targeting police on polio duty kills 4, wounds 27

Health minister announces ‘three-pronged strategy’ to stem polio spread

Wiping out polio ‘not guaranteed,’ support needed: Bill Gates

“I appeal to all parents across Pakistan to fully cooperate with the campaign, vaccinate their children against polio to protect them from this disease permanently,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said during the campaign launch, a day before the attack.

Polio can easily be prevented by the oral administration of a few drops of vaccine, but in parts of rural Pakistan health workers risk their lives to save others.

Scores of polio vaccination workers and their escorts have been killed over the years.

In September, dozens of Pakistani policemen who accompany medical teams on door-to-door campaigns went on strike after a string of militant attacks.