Gunmen kill five women health workers in Pakistan
19 Dec 2012 7:22 AM IST
Five female health workers administering polio vaccines to children, including a 14-year-old girl, were killed in attacks by unidentified gunmen in the Pakistani cities of Karachi and Peshawar on Tuesday, prompting authorities to suspend their anti-polio campaign.
Another male volunteer engaged in WHO's anti-polio campaign was shot and killed in Karachi on Monday night, taking the number of anti-polio workers killed since on Monday to six.
Sagheer Ahmed, the Health Minister of Sindh province, told reporters that four women workers were killed in three separate attacks on polio vaccinators in Baldia, Landhi and Orangi Town areas of Karachi on Tuesday morning. Police officials had earlier said that three women and a man were killed in these attacks. Officials said two male polio vaccinators were injured in the attacks.
The shootings occurred within the span of half an hour.
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa capital Peshawar, gunmen targeted a group of anti-polio workers and injured a girl, who later succumbed to her injuries. Officials said the girl, identified only as Farzana, was 14 years old.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks though the banned Pakistani Taliban has opposed the anti-polio campaign in the past, saying the vaccines are aimed at ‘sterilising’ children.
The Taliban have also accused workers involved in anti-polio drives in the northwest of spying for the US. Provincial Health Minister Ahmed said he had ordered the immediate halting of the polio vaccination campaign in Sindh following the attacks. He strongly condemned the attacks on polio workers and described them as a conspiracy against efforts to make Sindh ‘polio free’.
The WHO too suspended its anti-polio drive in Karachi. Officials said they were assessing the situation across the country to decide on continuing the campaign in other areas. The development marked a major setback for Pakistan's efforts to eradicate polio.
On Tuesday's attacks in Karachi were carried out in areas with a sizeable Pashtun population. A large number of Pashtuns have migrated to Karachi following unrest in northwest Pakistan. Recent reports have said that a large number of Taliban militants had entered the port city of 18 million people along with the migrants.
Anti-polio workers of the WHO have been attacked several times in Karachi in recent months.
Recently, a UN doctor from Ghana working for the anti-polio campaign and his driver were shot and injured in Karachi.
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the only countries where the virus remains endemic.
PM RAJA PERVEZ ASHRAF CONDEMNS ATTACKS
Hours after gunmen shot and killed five female polio vaccinators, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf condemned the attacks and reiterated the Pakistan government’s resolve to rid the country of the crippling disease. The premier expressed shock at the attacks on polio field workers in Karachi and Peshawar and ordered the Interior Ministry to coordinate with polio eradication authorities to provide fool-proof security to vaccination teams. The field polio teams had been instrumental in wiping out the disease from the country, he said. Ashraf directed authorities to conduct an enquiry into the attacks and bring the culprits to book. ‘The Prime Minister expressed the resolve the take every step for the complete eradication of polio from the country,’ said a statement issued by Ashraf’s office after he chaired a meeting of the Polio Task Force. The meeting was held shortly after gunmen shot and killed four women polio vaccinators in three separate attacks in the southern port city of Karachi.
Another male volunteer engaged in WHO's anti-polio campaign was shot and killed in Karachi on Monday night, taking the number of anti-polio workers killed since on Monday to six.
Sagheer Ahmed, the Health Minister of Sindh province, told reporters that four women workers were killed in three separate attacks on polio vaccinators in Baldia, Landhi and Orangi Town areas of Karachi on Tuesday morning. Police officials had earlier said that three women and a man were killed in these attacks. Officials said two male polio vaccinators were injured in the attacks.
The shootings occurred within the span of half an hour.
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa capital Peshawar, gunmen targeted a group of anti-polio workers and injured a girl, who later succumbed to her injuries. Officials said the girl, identified only as Farzana, was 14 years old.
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks though the banned Pakistani Taliban has opposed the anti-polio campaign in the past, saying the vaccines are aimed at ‘sterilising’ children.
The Taliban have also accused workers involved in anti-polio drives in the northwest of spying for the US. Provincial Health Minister Ahmed said he had ordered the immediate halting of the polio vaccination campaign in Sindh following the attacks. He strongly condemned the attacks on polio workers and described them as a conspiracy against efforts to make Sindh ‘polio free’.
The WHO too suspended its anti-polio drive in Karachi. Officials said they were assessing the situation across the country to decide on continuing the campaign in other areas. The development marked a major setback for Pakistan's efforts to eradicate polio.
On Tuesday's attacks in Karachi were carried out in areas with a sizeable Pashtun population. A large number of Pashtuns have migrated to Karachi following unrest in northwest Pakistan. Recent reports have said that a large number of Taliban militants had entered the port city of 18 million people along with the migrants.
Anti-polio workers of the WHO have been attacked several times in Karachi in recent months.
Recently, a UN doctor from Ghana working for the anti-polio campaign and his driver were shot and injured in Karachi.
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the only countries where the virus remains endemic.
PM RAJA PERVEZ ASHRAF CONDEMNS ATTACKS
Hours after gunmen shot and killed five female polio vaccinators, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf condemned the attacks and reiterated the Pakistan government’s resolve to rid the country of the crippling disease. The premier expressed shock at the attacks on polio field workers in Karachi and Peshawar and ordered the Interior Ministry to coordinate with polio eradication authorities to provide fool-proof security to vaccination teams. The field polio teams had been instrumental in wiping out the disease from the country, he said. Ashraf directed authorities to conduct an enquiry into the attacks and bring the culprits to book. ‘The Prime Minister expressed the resolve the take every step for the complete eradication of polio from the country,’ said a statement issued by Ashraf’s office after he chaired a meeting of the Polio Task Force. The meeting was held shortly after gunmen shot and killed four women polio vaccinators in three separate attacks in the southern port city of Karachi.
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