Islamists on bikes murder another polio worker in Pakistan.
A Pakistani police officer, left, stands guard while health worker Shahida Akram, 41, prepares polio vaccines to be given for children in a neighborhood in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013. Some Islamic militants oppose the vaccination campaign, accuse health workers of acting as spies for the U.S. and claim the polio vaccine is intended to make Muslim children sterile. Pakistan is one of the few remaining places where polio is still rampant. (AP /Muhammed Muheisen)
Gunmen on motorcycles shot and killed a female worker administering anti-polio drops in a Peshawar village.
The Daily Times reported:
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.
