Suspected militants kill 2 police officers assigned to protect polio workers in northwest Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Suspected militants shot and killed two police officers assigned to escort polio workers in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, the second such attack in the past 24 hours on officers taking part in a nationwide anti-polio drive.

The latest attack happened in Bannu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, said Altaf Khan, a local police chief. Another two officers were also wounded in the attack.

Khan said police have launched a search in the area to trace the assailants, and one of the attackers was apparently at a house in Bannu.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack in Bannu.

Tuesday’s attack came hours after authorities said an officer who was critically wounded in a roadside bombing that targeted police assigned to protect polio vaccination workers in northwestern Pakistan died in a hospital, raising the death toll from the attack, claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, to seven.

Police said in a statement that at least three officers remained in critical condition after Monday’s bombing in the district of Mamund, a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.

The Pakistani Taliban promptly claimed responsibility for the attack. However, a competing claim late on Monday by the Islamic State group accused the Pakistani Taliban of falsely taking responsibility for the bombing. In the past, the two militant groups — which are both active in the region — have issued competing claims.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in the world where polio remains endemic.

Monday’s bombing in Mamund happened after the government began another round of its regular vaccination drives. 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.

The vaccination drive in Mamund was suspended for a second day Tuesday.