A police officer lost his life to unknown assailants, on Wednesday, while providing security to polio workers in Buner District of Malakand Division in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
Unidentified men opened fire at Sepoy Zafar Ali Jan in Thana Dagar area when he was on duty.
Meanwhile, other members of the team emerged unscathed as they were standing at some distance when the unfortunate incident took place.
Buner District Police Officer (DPO), Muhammad Arshad Khan, claimed,
“An official of the special police force has been targeted with the help of a 12-bore weapon. Such a weapon is not usually used in terrorism-related incidents or targeted killings.”
He added that it was yet to ascertain if the incident occurred due to any personal enmity.
“A search operation is underway in the area,” he further noted.
Earlier on Tuesday, another police officer was also martyred in Bannu while he was on security duty for polio workers
Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Imran was targeted near a Rural Health Centre in Domel by unidentified gunmen.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister, Mehmood Khan, also took serious notice of the incident; summoning a report from the province’s Inspector General (IG).
It is quite unfortunate that Pakistan shares dismal polio endemic with only Afghanistan and Nigeria across the world, once known as a common childhood virus that could cause paralysis or death.
Previously, immunisation efforts have been hampered by militants.
They alleged the immunisation campaigns stood as a cover for Western spies.
Local officials said they had recruited Muslim clerics to promote the immunisations for children after past programmes had been met with resistance and even violence by extremists.
