Bomb targeting police assigned for anti-polio campaign kills 6 officers, wounds 10 in NW Pakistan
ABC News
A roadside bomb has exploded near a van carrying police assigned to protect workers in an anti-polio immunization campaign in restive northwestern Pakistan, killing at least six officers and wounding 10 others
KHAR, Pakistan -- A roadside bomb exploded Monday near a van carrying police assigned to protect workers in an anti-polio immunization campaign in restive northwestern Pakistan, killing at least six officers and wounding 10 others, officials said.
The attack happened in the former Pakistani Taliban stronghold of Mamund in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, police official Kashif Zulfiquar said.
He said some of the wounded officers were in critical condition at a government hospital.
Anti-polio campaigns in Pakistan are regularly marred by violence. Islamic militants often target polio teams and police assigned to protect them, claiming falsely that the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for Monday's attack, which came hours after authorities launched the first anti-polio campaign of the new year.
