Summary Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where polio is still endemic.
PESHAWAR (Web Desk) - The political administration has decided to ban motorcycle riding in different parts of Swabi and Khyber Agency to avert further attacks on polio teams.
The decision was taken after unidentified gunmen shot dead a polio worker and two policemen guarding a polio vaccination team in two separate attacks in Pakistan’s troubled northwest Friday.
The shootings were the latest in a series of attacks by militants targeting polio teams following the imposition of an official ban by the Taliban last year, who see inoculation campaigns as a cover for espionage.
The first incident took place when two policemen riding a motorbike were attacked by at least four gunmen as they left Swabi town for Topi in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The pair had been deputed on security duty for an ongoing polio vaccination campaign in the area, a local police officer said.
In a separate attack Friday, gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on a polio worker near his home in the Jamrud area of the Khyber tribal district, killing him on the spot.
Two intelligence officials in Peshawar, the region’s main city, confirmed both incidents, which brings the death toll to at least 28 since the June 2012 ban.
The attacks come despite a recent fatwa by a prominent Pakistani religious scholar, who urged parents to immunize their children against polio and other life-threatening diseases and said vaccinations were compliant with Shariah.
Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where polio is still endemic, but efforts to stamp out the crippling disease have been hit by repeated attacks on health teams.
Officials blame the violence and suspicions about the vaccine for a surge in cases. According to the World Health Organization, Pakistan recorded 72 cases of polio this year compared to 58 in 2012.
