Six Pakistani police officers guarding a team of polio vaccination workers were injured when their police van struck a land mine in northwestern Pakistan early on September 9, an official told Radio Mashaal. Amin Wazir, deputy superintendent of police in Wana, a central town in the South Waziristan tribal district, told Radio Mashaal that nine people were injured in the blast. Pakistan launched a five-day anti-polio drive on September 9 aiming to vaccinate around 3 million children below the age of 5. Pakistan is one of two countries in the world where the deadly polio virus has not been eradicated. Polio teams were frequently targeted by insurgent groups in Afghanistan before the Taliban's takeover of the country in 2021, when the hard-line Islamist group said it wanted to work with the UN to stamp out the disease.
Land Mine Injures 9, Including 6 Police Guarding Anti-Polio Workers In Pakistan
A health worker administers polio drops to a child during a door-to-door vaccination campaign in Karachi.