Summary Health workers remained safe, however, two policemen were killed in the attack.
QUETTA (Dunya News) - Gunmen attacked a polio vaccination team in Pishin district of restive Balochistan province on Tuesday, killing two policemen who were providing security.
The attackers opened fire as the team was going to administer polio drops in the Kona bazaar area.
The campaign involved two male health worker to inoculate children under five years of age against the crippling disease.
No female worker is participating in the vaccination campaign after attacks on polio teams across the country over the past few months killed more than 20 people.
No one has claimed responsibility for the killings. But last year Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the umbrella Taliban faction, banned polio vaccinations in the tribal region of Waziristan, alleging the campaign was a cover for espionage.
Last year many polio workers were killed when armed militants attacked polio-eradication teams in several districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the country's southern port city of Karachi.
Following the repeated attacks on the health workers, the World Health Organization and Unicef that were funding the drive in Pakistan, withdrew field workers owing to security threats on December 19. However, polio workers from national health bodies continued to serve despite the danger.
This is unclear whether the polio-eradication drive would continue in the province after the latest attack.
Pakistan is one of the world's three countries, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, where polio still exists. In 2011, an estimated 173 cases of polio were registered across the country. According to official statistics, only 56 cases have been registered across the country in 2012, thanks to anti-polio vaccination.
