Two cops on polio duty martyred in Lower Dir
 

TIMERGARA: Unidentified assailants shot dead two policemen near the Markhani Bridge in the limits of Lal Qilla Police Station in Lower Dir district early on Wednesday, police said. District Police Officer (DPO), Lower Dir, ArifShahbazWazir said that Constable Farmanullah and Special Police Official (SPO) Mukarram Khan had left the Basic Health Unit (BHU) in Bishigram to provide security to a polio team when they came under attack near the Markhani Bridge in Maidan area. “Both the cops embraced martyrdom on the spot,” the official said.Police conducted a search operation in the area but made no arrest, he said, adding, the polio campaign continued even after the incident.The DPO added that only the cops were the target as the incident occurred before they joined the team of polio vaccinators.After the death of the two policemen, the number of cops and polio vaccinators martyred in such attacks this year rose to seven. A total of 98 cops and polio vaccination team members have been martyred in terrorist attacks since 2012.The attack took place during the latest National Immunization Day to reach 39 million children under the age of five following the spike in polio cases and the rising number of refusals by parents to get their children vaccinated. About 260,000 vaccination workers are taking part in the campaign countrywide.The campaign in particular is focusing on KP, which has reported the highest number of new polio cases of the 104 confirmed in Pakistan this year. Only 12 polio cases were reported in 2018 and eight in 2017 and the spike in the numbers in 2019 has become a matter of concern.Our Mardan correspondent adds: Residents of Battagram, a village at Garhi Kapura in Mardan district attacked a Basic Health Unit (BHU) over the polio vaccination issue and thrashed the medical officer, police said on Wednesday.A polio team was busy in polio vaccination in the area when Murad Khan, a local resident, refused to get vaccinated his children and started threatening the team of health workers.The police arrested the accused. Later, former tehsil member Fayyaz Khan, former councillor Misbah, who is personal assistant to the PTI lawmaker Ameer Farzand Khan, Israr Aminul Haq, Subhan along with 15 other unknown people, stormed the BHU in Battagram and allegedly thrashed the Medical Officer Dr Rishad Gul. Personnel of Garhi Kapura Police Station registered the case against the accused.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/com/cwEr/~4/__tJeZF_sd0

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