Three polio workers abducted in northwest Pakistan

Peshawar, Nov 5 (PTI) Three more polio workers were abducted by unidentified men from Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Thursday, police said.

     The latest incident brings the total number of kidnapped polio workers in the province to eight over the past three days.

     According to police, the three workers were abducted from the Gandal area of the Kurram district while participating in the ongoing anti-polio vaccination campaign.

     A vaccination drive is underway in 97 districts to immunise nearly 24 million children.

     Further details, including the identity of the abductors and the whereabouts of the kidnapped workers, remain unknown.

     Four polio workers were abducted from southern districts of the province on Tuesday, while another was kidnapped on Wednesday.

     The latest incident has further heightened security concerns for polio vaccination teams in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where healthcare workers and police personnel deployed to protect anti-polio campaigns have increasingly been targeted in armed attacks, killings and abductions.

     Recent attacks in Mohmand, Tank and Khyber districts have raised further concerns over the safety of vaccination teams engaged in efforts to eradicate polio in the region.

     The number of poliovirus cases in the country rose to      nine on Thursday, with a fresh case being detected in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

     Polio is a highly contagious disease that has no cure and can cause lifelong paralysis and, in some cases, even death.

     Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in the world where wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) is still endemic.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)