Accessibility links

Breaking News

Kidnapped Polio Workers Found Dead In Pakistan


A Pakistani health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child.
A Pakistani health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child.

Four members of a polio vaccination team have been found shot dead after being kidnapped in southwestern Pakistan.

Police said the bodies of a health worker, his driver and two security guards were found in Balochistan Province on February 17.

Reports say they were abducted by Taliban militants in Zhob district on February 13.

Militants frequently target medical workers involved in dispensing polio vaccinations, claiming the internationally backed immunization program is a cover for spying or sterilizing Muslims.

The attacks have contributed to an increase in polio cases in Pakistan, making the country one of only three in the world where the disease remains endemic.

On February 14, gunmen killed the driver of a van carrying two polio workers in the northwestern Khyber tribal region.

Based on reporting by AFP and the BBC
XS
SM
MD
LG