ISLAMABAD, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Two policemen were killed by some unknown gunmen when the former were escorting polio eradication teams in Lower Dir district of Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province on Wednesday, a police officer said.
The policemen were on their way to a basic health unit of the district where the polio workers had to collect the vaccine when the unknown gunmen fired at the police and fled the scene, Lower Dir Deputy Superintendent of Police Saeedur Rehman said.
No polio worker was injured or killed in the attack, and a search operation has been launched to nab the fleeing militants, he said.
Pakistan is one of three remaining polio-endemic countries in the world, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, according to the United Nations Children's Fund. The country is being assisted by the UN organization and private donors to eradicate the disease.
The polio eradication campaign has been intensified in the country after the disease tally crossed 100 recently. Polio workers in some of the hard areas including in KP and Balochistan face security and also geographical challenges to execute their work.
The ongoing polio eradication campaign started on Monday in the province with a focus on reaching and vaccinating every child for stopping transmission of the virus and its outbreak in the region.
