PAKISTAN IMMUNISATION KILLING

january 30, 2013 by Agency Reporter Leave a Comment A policeman providing security for a polio vaccination team in Pakistan has been killed by gunmen near the north-western town of Swabi, officials said. The killing is the latest in a spate of deadly attacks against vaccination workers in the country, the BBC reports. In December at least eight people engaged in polio vaccinations were shot dead in Karachi and the north-west. No group has said it carried out Tuesday’s attack, but the Taliban have threatened anti-polio efforts. The militants have accused health workers of working as US spies and say the vaccine makes children sterile. Along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, Pakistan is one of only three countries where polio is still endemic. The latest attack took place on the southern outskirts of Swabi town, police say. Tuesday was the second day of an immunisation drive in the area and a two-women team were administering polio drops to children. “The team, after finishing the campaign in Kala (village of Swabi district) was heading towards a nearby village when three men armed with Kalashnikovs appeared from sugarcane fields and opened fire,” Swabi police chief Abdul Rashid Khan told AFP. He said that the two team members were unhurt and the gunmen escaped.