By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: A bomb exploded near a police truck in a remote area of northwest Pakistan on Monday, killing five policemen and wounding 27 others, including civilians, officials said.
The attack targeted a police truck that was transporting about 25 officers for anti-polio vaccination duties in the Bajaur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, an official said.
The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the bombing, which occurred in the Mamund tehsil, a tribal region near the border with Afghanistan.
Dr. Wazir Khan Safi, the medical superintendent at Khar District Headquarters Hospital, said 12 of the wounded were being treated there, while 10 others in critical condition were referred to a hospital in Peshawar, the provincial capital.
Malakand Division Commissioner Saqib Raza said the polio campaign in the area had been suspended due to the blast. Rescue teams in neighboring Mohmand and Lower Dir districts were also put on alert, according to a statement by Rescue 1122, an emergency service.
Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar strongly condemned the attack and vowed to continue the anti-polio campaign with “full force till the complete elimination of the poliovirus from the country,” state-run Radio Pakistan reported.
Pakistan is one of the few countries in the world where polio remains endemic, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria. The country has been struggling to eradicate the virus for decades, but has faced resistance from militant groups who see the vaccination campaigns as a cover for espionage or a plot to sterilize Muslims.
The militants, including TTP have ramped up their attacks since they revoked a ceasefire with the government last year.
In a separate incident on Monday, a counterterrorism official was killed and three people were injured in a shooting at a judicial complex in Peshawar, local police said.
The police said the gunman, who disguised himself as a lawyer, opened fire due to personal enmity. He was arrested and taken to a police station for further investigation. The police also recovered the weapons used in the attack.
Meanwhile, an Army soldier was martyred in a gunfight with terrorists in North Waziristan, a former militant stronghold in the northwest, the military’s media wing said.
The Inter Service Public Relations said the troops engaged the terrorists’ location and captured one of them in injured condition. It said Havaldar Muhammad Zahir, a 41-year-old resident of Mardan, embraced martyrdom in the exchange of fire.
The ISPR said a sanitization operation was underway to eliminate any remaining terrorists in the area. “The security forces were determined to eradicate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve.”
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