| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Gunmen kill polio worker in Peshawar |
| 2013-05-29 |
| PESHAWAR: Suspected gunmen killed a lady worker administering anti-polio drops in Peshawar suburbs and wounded another, while the World Health Organisation announced temporary suspension of the campaign, officials said Tuesday. Police said they had taken at least 14 suspects into custody after the attack on the anti-polio team in Kaga Wala village in Badbher area. “One lady worker has died and another injured,” Peshawar Assistant Commissioner Habibullah Arif said. He, however, said the campaign would continue in other areas of Peshawar and a complete halt was not ordered. He said that he is personally supervising the drive in some areas. However, workers on the outskirts of the city are reluctant to move out after the incident and no polio teams are visible, according to the locals. EPI Programme acting In-charge Dr Raheem Khattak told reporters that the polio workers were attacked by unidentified gunmen, killing one and inuring the other. Two attackers on a motorcycle opened fire on the team on the edge of Peshawar, near the restive Khyber tribal region where the military has been battling homegrown insurgents with links to the Taliban. “One lady worker was killed and another wounded in the attack on the first day of a three-day campaign meant for areas on the outskirts of Peshawar,” local police official Shafiullah told AFP. An official in the city’s Lady Reading hospital confirmed the death. The World Health Organisation suspended its polio eradication campaign in Peshawar after the killing. WHO spokesperson Maryam Younas said the organisation was temporarily suspending its polio vaccination drive in Peshawar. “Operations will remain suspended in Peshawar until the security situation returns to normal,” she said. The attack comes on the first day of the anti-polio campaign in Peshawar. Local residents said the team was administering drops in the absence of any security escort. Police officials, however, said the local population requested the police to avoid escort as it would endanger the workers’ lives. Attacks on anti-polio teams began after media revelation that a Pakistani physician, Dr Shakeel Afridi, used a fake vaccination campaign to help US Central Intelligence Agency track down al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Meanwhile, anti-polio vaccination campaign was also suspended in parts of Gaddap Town of Karachi on Tuesday after militants’ threats. According to the Health Department, the Finance Ministry has refused to release Rs 690 million to buy anti-measles vaccine. As a result, the Health Department has postponed the campaign which was scheduled to start in June. |
| Posted by:Steve White |