Pakistan: Two police personnel escorting polio vaccination team killed in Quetta

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Two police personnel escorting a polio vaccination team were killed on Tuesday when armed men opened fire on them in Quetta’s Nawa Killi region, Dawn reported citing police.

The attack on police personnel comes on the first day of a week-long campaign to administer the polio vaccination to approximately 2.6 million children under five years of age in Balochistan.

Zarghoonabad Station House Officer (SHO) Asif Marwat has confirmed the casualties. Marwat identified the deceased as Constable Shaukat Ali and Syed Muhammad, according to Dawn.

The SHO said that members of the polio team were not injured in the attack. However, he added that the polio campaign in Nawa Killi and its surrounding areas had been suspended, according to Dawn.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari condemned what he described as a “terrorist attack” on the police team in Quetta. He expressed grief over the death of two police personnel.

Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari expressed hope that the perpetrators of the attack will soon be put behind bars. He further said, “Concerned authorities should ensure foolproof security of polio teams, people should fully cooperate with polio workers.”

Five police officers were killed and 12 others, including nine personnel and three civilians, were injured in terrorist attacks that occurred within a few hours at a government building in Bara and a police station close to Peshawar, Dawn reported on July 21.

Officials said policemen intercepted two suicide bombers at the entrance of the tehsil headquarters complex and police station adjacent to Bara bazaar around 11 am (local time) on Thursday. They said police engaged the bombers in a gun battle, which left one of the attackers dead, while the other blew himself up.

A portion of the building collapsed due to the explosion, Dawn reported. Three policemen were killed and 10 others, including three civilians, were injured.

According to Dawn report, officials of the bomb disposal unit said seven to eight kilograms of explosives were used by the suicide bombers. The officials further said that they had recovered pieces of hand grenades.

They recalled that CTD had killed four members of an alleged extortionist gang and arrested 13 others during separate intelligence-based operations in the Akkakhel area a few days ago, the report said. They added that the deceased and the detainees were involved in extortion cases in Peshawar, Khyber and some other areas of the province. (ANI)