Three security forces personnel killed in roadside bomb targeting polio workers in northwest Pakistan

Peshawar: Three security forces personnel have been killed and two others injured in a blast targeting a vehicle carrying polio workers in northwest Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The incident occurred in the Daraban area of Dera Ismail Khan district on Tuesday when a security forces vehicle enroute for polio duty was struck by a roadside blast triggered through an improvised explosive device (IED).

The deceased troops have been identified as Ashfaq, Mukhtiar Wali and Muhammad Arif. They succumbed to their injures in hospital.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far. The attack comes a day after a polio worker and a police constable were shot dead in separate incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province as the country began a week-long polio eradication campaign amid tight security.

Unidentified assailants opened fire and killed a polio worker in Bannu district on the very first day of the anti-polio drive that commenced across Pakistan on Monday.

Police said that the deceased polio worker was on his way to duty when he was attacked in Kala Khel Masti Khan.

In a separate incident in Karak district, Constable Ishtiaq Ahmed, escorting a team of polio workers, was killed when unidentified motorcyclists opened fire.

The polio eradication campaign across Pakistan began amid tight security to ensure its smooth sailing against the crippling disease that saw a surge this year with 63 cases reported so far.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only countries where the paralysing virus is still rampant.

During the week-long anti-polio campaign, more than 44.7 million children under the age of five will be vaccinated. The campaign has started across 143 districts of the country to prevent the resurgence of the polio virus.