Polio vaccination teams attacked by Pakistani militants
Militants ambush convoy of health workers with roadside bomb, killing 12 of their security team and wounding dozens more
Pakistani paramilitary soldiers takea
last glimpse of their colleagues, who were killed in roadside bomb
attacks during a funeral ceremony in the Lashora area of Pakistan Photo: AFP/GETTY
Militants have attacked a polio vaccination team in northwest Pakistan,
detonating a roadside bomb before opening fire on their convoy.
The attackers killed 12 members of the security escort for the team during the hour-long
assault, and when rescuers approached the scene the gunmen also attacked
them, according to Khan Faraz, a local official.
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Around a dozen wounded were taken to hospital, but others died on the road
waiting for help to arrive, he said.
Another official said all the casualties were members of the "levies" or
Khasadar, both locally-recruited, government-backed militias. They were
providing security for the health workers.
Polio vaccination teams are frequently attacked, as are government security
forces.
A spokeswoman for UNICEF said it was unclear who was the target on this
occasion.
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Some religious leaders have denounced the multi-billion dollar vaccination campaign as a cover for spying or a plot to secretly sterilise Muslim children.
Pakistan is one of the last three countries in the world where polio remains endemic and the only one of those three where reported cases are increasing.
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The disease can kill or paralyse within hours.
In a separate incident in western Baluchistan province, a roadside bomb killed three members of a government paramilitary force in Sorab, about 180 miles southwest of the provincial capital of Quetta.
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Shortly afterwards, the paramilitary Frontier Corps announced it had killed ten men in Sui, 200 miles southeast of Quetta.
The Frontier Corps said they were carrying out an operation to search for militants who had bombed gas pipelines.
. In recent weeks the Pakistani government has tried to initiate peace talks with the Taliban, an umbrella group of militant factions operating in Pakistan.
But peace talks failed after the Taliban bombed a bus of policemen and a faction of the Taliban claimed to have executed 23 kidnapped men from a government-run paramilitary force. Their bodies were never found.
.
The Pakistani military responded by bombing areas they identified as militant hideouts. A military spokesman says the attacks destroyed key hideouts and killed dozens of militants.
The air operations have sparked speculation that a much-anticipated offensive may finally be launched in North Waziristan, a tribal area along the border with Afghanistan that is considered the Taliban’s main stronghold.
.
Some religious leaders have denounced the multi-billion dollar vaccination campaign as a cover for spying or a plot to secretly sterilise Muslim children.
Pakistan is one of the last three countries in the world where polio remains endemic and the only one of those three where reported cases are increasing.
.
The disease can kill or paralyse within hours.
In a separate incident in western Baluchistan province, a roadside bomb killed three members of a government paramilitary force in Sorab, about 180 miles southwest of the provincial capital of Quetta.
.
Shortly afterwards, the paramilitary Frontier Corps announced it had killed ten men in Sui, 200 miles southeast of Quetta.
The Frontier Corps said they were carrying out an operation to search for militants who had bombed gas pipelines.
. In recent weeks the Pakistani government has tried to initiate peace talks with the Taliban, an umbrella group of militant factions operating in Pakistan.
But peace talks failed after the Taliban bombed a bus of policemen and a faction of the Taliban claimed to have executed 23 kidnapped men from a government-run paramilitary force. Their bodies were never found.
.
The Pakistani military responded by bombing areas they identified as militant hideouts. A military spokesman says the attacks destroyed key hideouts and killed dozens of militants.
The air operations have sparked speculation that a much-anticipated offensive may finally be launched in North Waziristan, a tribal area along the border with Afghanistan that is considered the Taliban’s main stronghold.
