KHAR, Pakistan: A Pakistani government official says gunmen have shot and killed a policeman assigned to protect polio workers in the country’s northwest.
The killing comes amid a nationwide campaign aimed at vaccinating 38.6 million Pakistani children under the age of 5.
The official, Anwarul Haq, said that some suspects were detained following Monday’s killing of officer Mohammad Sarfraz. The attack took place in the village of Badam in Bajur region, which borders Afghanistan.
Pakistan is one of few countries where polio is still endemic, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria.
Attacks on polio workers are common as the Taliban and militant groups claim the vaccination campaign against the crippling disease is part of a Western conspiracy.
No militant group immediately claimed responsibility for the latest attack.
Pakistan official: Gunmen kill policeman guarding polio team
Pakistan official: Gunmen kill policeman guarding polio team
- Some suspects were detained following Monday’s killing of officer Mohammad Sarfraz, says police official
- The attack took place in the village of Badam in Bajur region, which borders Afghanistan
Pakistan arrests suspect arriving from Cambodia amid crackdown on human smuggling
- Suspect worked at an “online fraud company” in Cambodia, later started smuggling people from Pakistan, says FIA
- Pakistan has intensified crackdown against human smugglers after hundreds of migrants drowned near Pylos in 2023
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Sunday said it had arrested a key suspect involved in smuggling humans who had arrived from Cambodia, alleging he was also part of an international fraud network.
The suspect, identified as Zainullah, was arrested by FIA officials when he arrived in the southern port city of Karachi from Cambodia.
Zainullah had traveled from Pakistan to Cambodia in September 2024, a press release issued by the agency said.
“He worked at an online fraud company in Cambodia and later became involved as an agent in recruiting individuals from Pakistan,” the FIA said.
The FIA said it recovered images of multiple individuals’ passports, payment receipts and bank transaction records after extracting data from Zainullah’s phone.
It said the suspect received money through personal bank accounts and a cryptocurrency account.
“The suspect has been handed over to the FIA Anti-Human Trafficking Circle, Karachi, for further legal proceedings,” the FIA said.
“Further investigation is underway.”
Pakistan intensified action against illegal migration in 2023 after hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel sank off the Greek town of Pylos, one of the deadliest boat disasters in the Mediterranean.
Authorities say they continue to target networks sending citizens abroad through dangerous routes, following heightened scrutiny at airports and a series of arrests involving forged documents.
Pakistan’s interior ministry said this week illegal migration to Europe has declined by 47 percent this year after its nationwide crackdown, saying that more than 1,700 human smugglers have been arrested in 2025.
