IED event in Pakistan on Fri 19th January 2024

Gunmen in northwestern Pakistan Friday ambushed and killed a senior health official who was coordinating anti-polio efforts in a turbulent region bordering Afghanistan. Authorities said the shooting in the militancy-hit Bajaur district also injured a police guard for the slain polio program coordinator, medical doctor Abdul Rehman. No group immediately took responsibility for the deadly assault in an area infested with militants. The anti-state Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, actively targets security forces and government officials in volatile districts near and on the Afghan border. A roadside bomb explosion in Bajaur earlier this month killed at least seven police officers and injured around two dozen others. The victims were on their way to provide security to polio teams during a national immunization drive. The TTP, designated as a global terrorist organization by the United States, claimed credit for that bombing. Pakistan and war-ravaged Afghanistan are the last two countries in which the highly infectious polio virus still paralyzes children. However, the cases in both countries significantly declined in 2023, with six reported in each. Militant attacks have killed dozens of Pakistani polio workers and police personnel escorting them in recent years. The violence and vaccination boycotts in parts of Pakistan continue to hinder eradication efforts, particularly in northwestern districts bordering Afghanistan, according to the World Health Organization.