Antipolio Health Worker Killed In Northwest Pakistan

A polio worker administers a polio vaccine to a child in Peshawar. Pakistan is one of a handful of countries where the disease is still endemic.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Gunmen have killed an antipolio health worker in an attack on a hospital in northwestern Pakistan.

Police official Khan Mullah told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal that the attack on December 28 targeted a hospital on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

He said another technician and a woman were also wounded in the attack.

Provincial Health Minister Shaukat Yousafzai condemned the attack and vowed to protect health workers and continue vaccination campaigns.

This year militants killed scores of antipolio workers and police officials who were protecting them.

Militants allege that polio-vaccination campaigns are used by Western nations for spying as well as to make Muslim children sterile.

Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where the crippling disease is still endemic.


With reporting by AFP