Ninth killed in polio team attacks: Pakistan
A woman from the All Pakistan Lady Health Workers Welfare Association draws crosses over an anti-polio drive poster, signalling a boycott of the ongoing campaign due to security concerns, during a protest rally against the killing of anti-polio drive campaign workers in Islamabad.
Image by: FAISAL MAHMOOD / REUTERS
Image by: FAISAL MAHMOOD / REUTERS
Pakistani officials say another victim from attacks on UN backed anti-polio teams has died, bringing the three-day toll to nine.
Health official Janbaz Afridi says 20-year-old Hilal Khan died on Thursday, a day after he was shot in the head in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
Since Monday, gunmen had launched attacks in across Pakistan on teams vaccinating children against polio. Six women are among the nine anti-polio workers killed in the vaccination campaign jointly conducted with the Pakistani government.
The U.N. has suspended the drive until a government investigation is completed.
Pakistan is one of only three countries where the crippling disease is endemic.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks but some Islamic militants accuse health workers of acting as spies for the US.
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