SWAT/QUETTA: A Levies personnel guarding an anti-polio vaccination team was shot dead on Tuesday when attackers opened fire in the remote area of Anzar Tangay Byakan, Tehsil Matta, in Swat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
According to the Swat district police officer (DPO), the shooting took place as polio workers were carrying out vaccination duties under the ongoing national immunisation campaign.
In a separate incident in Quetta, assailants snatched weapons and bulletproof vests from two police officers assigned to protect polio teams in the Mianghundi area. Police said a search and investigation have been launched to trace the culprits.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the terrorist attack on the anti-polio team in Matta and expressed deep sorrow over the martyrdom of the Levies personnel. He offered prayers for the martyred officer and conveyed his condolences to the bereaved family.
Premier Shehbaz said that terrorist attacks targeting public servants engaged in the eradication of polio were intolerable.
He reiterated that the government remained determined to completely eliminate the disease from the country and that the ongoing anti-polio campaign would continue until polio was fully eradicated.
The attack took place a day after the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) launched a week-long nationwide immunisation campaign across 159 districts to vaccinate more than 45.4 million children under the age of five.
Over 400,000 health workers are participating in the door-to-door campaign, which also includes administering Vitamin A supplements to boost immunity. The drive is being conducted from October 13 to 19 nationwide, while in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the campaign will run from October 20 to 23.
Polio remains endemic in Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan, the only two countries where the virus has yet to be eradicated. Militants have frequently targeted health teams and their security escorts, resulting in hundreds of deaths over the past decade.
The virus, which primarily affects children under five, can cause irreversible paralysis but is preventable through the oral administration of a few drops of vaccine.
The country has reported 29 polio cases so far in 2025, 18 from KP, nine from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Last year, 74 cases were recorded, compared to six in 2023.
