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Three killed in separate Pakistan polio shootings | |
(about 5 hours later) | |
Gunmen have shot dead at least two policemen providing security to a team of polio workers in north-west Pakistan. A polio worker was also killed in a separate attack, local media have reported. | |
The two policemen were travelling from the town of Swabi to Topi by motorbike when they were attacked. | |
The polio worker was shot on the outskirts of Peshawar. | |
The attacks are the latest in a series targeting polio teams in the country. | |
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Taliban oppose the polio vaccination schemes, which they see as a cover for international espionage. | |
Islamist militants have been at the forefront of a decade-long campaign of violence against health workers, who they also accuse of being part of a Western plot to sterilise Muslims. | Islamist militants have been at the forefront of a decade-long campaign of violence against health workers, who they also accuse of being part of a Western plot to sterilise Muslims. |
But earlier this week a prominent religious seminary in Pakistan - which wields great influence with Taliban groups - backed polio vaccinations, saying they were not un-Islamic. | |
Pakistan is one of only three countries where polio remains endemic, due in part to militant resistance to polio mass vaccination campaigns. Nigeria and Afghanistan are the others. | Pakistan is one of only three countries where polio remains endemic, due in part to militant resistance to polio mass vaccination campaigns. Nigeria and Afghanistan are the others. |
The current campaign against immunisation was started by the current Pakistani Taliban leader, Mullah Fazlullah, in 2005, and turned more violent after US forces killed former al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden, in a secret raid in 2011. | The current campaign against immunisation was started by the current Pakistani Taliban leader, Mullah Fazlullah, in 2005, and turned more violent after US forces killed former al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden, in a secret raid in 2011. |
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