On Tuesday, a Levies constable guarding a polio vaccination team was shot dead in Swat district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Police say the constable was killed when unknown attackers opened fire on him as the team was working inside a house.
The killing comes just one day after the Pakistani government launched a nationwide polio eradication push. Officials plan to vaccinate more than 45 million children in 2025. According to Swat’s District Police Officer, Muhammad Umar Khan, the constable was on duty outside while two female health workers were giving vaccines. The attackers fled the scene before police arrived.
Police have cordoned off the area and are conducting a search for the perpetrators. Khan warned that any attempt to sabotage peace in Swat would not be tolerated and that the culprits would face justice.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have seen many attacks on polio workers this year. In 2024 alone, 20 people were killed and 53 others wounded in such assaults. Earlier in May, a police officer in Balochistan’s Noshki district was shot dead protecting a vaccination team, and a February incident in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bajaur district claimed another officer’s life.
Polio remains endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the only countries where the wild virus is still circulating. Security threats, vaccine hesitancy and misinformation slow Pakistan’s progress toward eradication.
New cases have risen. In September, the National Institute of Health recorded two fresh polio infections in Sindh, taking the country’s 2025 total to 29. The cases were in Badin and Thatta, following earlier reports from Hyderabad. Nationwide, 18 cases came from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, nine from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Gilgit‑Baltistan.
Source: ianslive
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