Gunmen kill policeman guarding polio vaccination team in Pakistan

Gunmen attacked two police providing security for polio vaccination workers in north-west Pakistan, shooting and killing one and wounding the other, officials said on Saturday.

Mohammad Khurasani, spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, known as the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility.

It was the first attack since the TTP on Friday announced the end of a one-month ceasefire with the government.

The truce had been announced in November amid peace talks between the two sides.

The attack took place in the district of Tank in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on the second day of a five-day anti-polio drive to vaccinate 6.5 million children, said Aimal Khan, speaking for the vaccination campaign.

Police officer Sajjad Ahmed said two gunmen on a motorbike opened fire on the police team escorting the polio vaccinators in the Chaddarah area, killing one constable on the spot and critically wounding a Frontier Constabulary officer.

Members of the vaccination team were unhurt.

Pakistani militants often target polio teams and police assigned to protect them, claiming the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilise children.

Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan are the only two remaining countries in the world where polio is endemic, after Nigeria was last year declared free of the virus.