PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Gunmen riding on motorcycles opened fire on Tuesday on police escorting a team of polio workers in northwestern Pakistan, killing two policemen, authorities said.
None of the polio workers were harmed, said Mohammad Imran, a local police official. The four polio workers and their police escort were all traveling on motorcycles.
The assailants fled the scene and no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in the town of Gomal, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.
The attack came on the second day of Pakistan’s latest anti-polio campaign in the province. Pakistan has registered 14 new polio cases since April, all from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The outbreak has been a blow to the Islamic nation’s efforts to eradicate the disease, which can cause severe paralysis in children.
Pakistan’s anti-polio campaigns are regularly marked by violence as Islamic militants often target polio teams and police protecting them, falsely claiming that the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in the world where polio remains endemic. In 2021, Pakistan reported only one case, raising hopes it was close to eradicating polio.
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Gunmen kill 2 policemen escorting polio workers in Pakistan
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Gunmen kill 2 policemen escorting polio workers in Pakistan
- The assailants fled the scene and no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in the town of Gomal
Military drone strike in Niger killed 17 civilians in January: HRW
- An apparent Niger military drone strike killed 17 civilians, among them children, in western Niger near the Burkina Faso border last month, Human Rights Watch said on Monday
ABIDJAN: An apparent Niger military drone strike killed 17 civilians, among them children, in western Niger near the Burkina Faso border last month, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.
Niger is plagued by jihadist violence in the western Tillaberi region, a flashpoint zone where the country’s borders converge with that of its allies Burkina Faso and Mali.
Jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group have made the region a fiefdom, carrying out deadly attacks for nearly a decade.
“An apparent Nigerien military drone strike killed at least 17 civilians, including four children, and injured at least 13 others at a crowded market” on January 6, HRW said in a statement.
Three Islamist fighters were also killed in the strike, it said.
It took place in the village of Kokoloko in the Tillaberi region, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of the capital, Niamey, and less than three kilometers from the border with Burkina Faso, HRW said.
Witnesses spoke of having seen a drone flying over the village twice during the morning and then drop munition on it when hundreds of people were in the market, HRW said.
“The strike, which also killed three Islamist fighters, violated laws-of-war prohibitions against indiscriminate attacks and might amount to a war crime,” it added.
Niger’s military leaders, who came to power in a 2023 coup, have struggled to contain jihadist groups in Tillaberi, despite maintaining a large army presence in the region.
The Daesh group claimed an attack that targeted Niamey airport last month.
Niger is plagued by jihadist violence in the western Tillaberi region, a flashpoint zone where the country’s borders converge with that of its allies Burkina Faso and Mali.
Jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group have made the region a fiefdom, carrying out deadly attacks for nearly a decade.
“An apparent Nigerien military drone strike killed at least 17 civilians, including four children, and injured at least 13 others at a crowded market” on January 6, HRW said in a statement.
Three Islamist fighters were also killed in the strike, it said.
It took place in the village of Kokoloko in the Tillaberi region, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of the capital, Niamey, and less than three kilometers from the border with Burkina Faso, HRW said.
Witnesses spoke of having seen a drone flying over the village twice during the morning and then drop munition on it when hundreds of people were in the market, HRW said.
“The strike, which also killed three Islamist fighters, violated laws-of-war prohibitions against indiscriminate attacks and might amount to a war crime,” it added.
Niger’s military leaders, who came to power in a 2023 coup, have struggled to contain jihadist groups in Tillaberi, despite maintaining a large army presence in the region.
The Daesh group claimed an attack that targeted Niamey airport last month.
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