Two police constables killed protecting polio vaccination team in Balochistan's Noshki; campaign suspended amid ongoing investigation.
Two constables were shot and killed Tuesday while protecting a polio vaccination team in Noshki, Balochistan. The attackers, riding a motorcycle, opened fire before fleeing the scene. The vaccination team and its members escaped unharmed.
- ▪Constables Muhammad Yasir and Abdul Rauf were guarding female polio workers during a provincial immunization drive when gunmen attacked them
- ▪The armed assailants fled after the shooting, taking the officers’ weapons with them
- ▪No group has claimed responsibility for the attack; police investigation is ongoing to identify motives and perpetrators
- ▪The anti-polio campaign in the Noshki area has been suspended following the incident
- ▪Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack as ‘heinous and unforgivable,’ vowing severe punishment for those responsible
- ▪Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti ordered a report from the provincial Home Department and praised the fallen officers’ sacrifice
- ▪The week-long vaccination drive, launched Monday across 32 Balochistan districts, aims to inoculate 2.3 million children under five
- ▪Pakistan and Afghanistan remain the only two countries where polio is still endemic
- ▪Two positive environmental samples for polio were recently detected in Balochistan, prompting the current campaign
Source: according to local reports
COMMENTS