Gunmen kill four in Pakistan in latest attack on polio health workers

Three women and their driver shot in deadliest attack in two years

Gunmen killed three Pakistani women and their driver on Wednesday on their way to meet a police escort, according to police in the southwestern city of Quetta.

“Two men on a motorcycle intercepted the van and shot the occupants using a hand gun,”a spokesman said.

Teams in Pakistan working to immunise children against polio have frequently been targeted by the Taliban. The militants say the polio campaign is a cover for Western spies or accuse workers of distributing vaccines designed to sterilise children.

Polio cases this year stand at a 15-year high in Pakistan. The disease, which can kill or paralyse a child within hours of infection, had been eradicated in most countries except for Nigeria and Afghanistan.

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One reason for the rise in Pakistan is a military campaign in North Waziristan on the Afghan border. It forced a large number of unvaccinated children to flee their homes and move around the country in June.

An international monitoring body also blamed Pakistan’s government in a report last month.

Vaccinators rarely get paid their government salaries, and police protection teams often turn up late - if at all.

The complacency of Pakistan’s government was “disastrous”, the report said, warning the country risked reinfecting the rest of the world.

Pakistan has already exported the virus to Syria, China, Israel and Egypt.

Reuters