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PESHAWAR, Pakistan: A Pakistan police officer traveling to guard polio vaccinators was shot dead Monday, police said, on the first day of a nationwide immunization effort after a year of rising cases.

The officer was traveling to guard polio vaccinators in the area of Jamrud town in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when he was killed, local police official Zarmat Khan told AFP.

“Two motorcycle riders opened fire on him,” he said. “The constable died instantly at the scene.”

Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only countries where polio is endemic and militants have for decades targeted vaccination teams and their security escorts.

Pakistan recorded at least 73 polio infections last year compared to six in 2023. The vaccination campaign which started on Monday is the first of the year and is due to last a week.

“Despite the incident, the polio vaccination drive in the area remains ongoing,” Khan said.

Abdul Hameed Afridi, another senior police official in the area, also confirmed details of the attack and said officers have “launched an investigation.”

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, however Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — which neighbors Afghanistan — is a hive of militant activity.

The Pakistani Taliban are the most active group in the area.

Polio can easily be prevented by the oral administration of a few drops of vaccine, but scores of vaccination workers and their escorts have been killed over the years.

In the past, clerics falsely claimed that the vaccine contained pork or alcohol, declaring it forbidden for Muslims.

In more recent years the attacks have focused on vulnerable police escorts accompanying the vaccinators as they go door-to-door.

Last year, dozens of Pakistani policemen who accompany medical teams on campaigns went on strike after a string of militant attacks targeting them.

Pakistan has witnessed rising militant attacks since the Taliban returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan.

More than 1,600 people were killed in attacks in 2024 — the deadliest year in almost a decade — according to the Center for Research and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based analysis group.

Islamabad accuses Kabul’s new rulers of failing to rout militants organizing on Afghan soil, a charge the Taliban government routinely denies.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Sunday last year’s polio eradication efforts faced “a major setback.”

“We must eradicate polio from Pakistan at any cost,” he said as he launched the new vaccination drive.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has arrived in the provincial capital of Quetta on a day-long visit where he will be briefed about the law and order situation in southwestern Balochistan, his office said on Monday, days after a militant attack killed 18 security forces in the province.

The Pakistan army said on Saturday 18 security forces had been killed while trying to thwart an “act of terrorism” in the insurgency-plagued Balochistan province, adding that 23 militants were killed in subsequent clearance operations. 

The army said the attack took place in Kalat district’s Mangochar town on the night between Friday and Saturday when militants attempted to establish roadblocks in the area. The banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), one of the most prominent separatist groups operating in the southwestern province, claimed responsibility for the attack. 

“Governor Balochistan Sheikh Jafar Khan Mandokhel and Chief Minister Balochistan Sarfraz Bugti received Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif upon his arrival at Quetta,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said. 

It said Sharif will meet security forces personnel who were injured while battling militants in Kalat last week.

“The prime minister will also meet the provincial leadership in Quetta and will be briefed on law and order,” the statement added. 

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and Power Minister Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari are accompanying Sharif, the PMO said. 

While the army did not specify which forces the 18 soldiers belonged to, government officials in Balochistan told Arab News they included 17 soldiers and one Frontier Corps trooper.

BALOCHISTAN INSURGENCY

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by landmass and rich in mineral resources, has long faced a low-level insurgency led by separatist groups like the BLA, who accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources while neglecting the local population.

Pakistani governments have for decades denied these allegations, saying they have prioritized Balochistan’s development through investments in health, education and infrastructure projects.

The BLA has emerged as a significant security threat in recent months, carrying out major attacks in Balochistan and other parts of Pakistan and targeting security forces, ethnic Punjabis they consider outsiders in Balochistan, as well as Chinese interests and nationals working on investment projects.

Over 50 people, including security forces, were killed in August last year in a string of attacks in Balochistan claimed by the BLA. Last month, dozens of fighters of the separatist outfit gained control of a small town in Khuzdar for hours. They snatched weapons and vehicles from the local Levies paramilitary force and set the Levies station on fire.

Violence by Baloch separatist factions, primarily the BLA, killed about 300 people last year, according to official statistics, marking an escalation in the decades-long conflict.