QUETTA: Gunmen attacked a vehicle and abducted two polio workers who were on their way home after visiting a health facility in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to local police.
The kidnapping happened ahead of a nationwide anti-polio campaign which will begin on April 21 to vaccinate 45 million children.
“Raza Muhammad and Muhammad Asif were kidnapped at gunpoint by unknown persons and taken away,” police said in a statement, which said they had been returning from a training for the upcoming vaccination campaign.
It wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the abductions but authorities have previously blamed militants for such attacks.
Insurgents falsely claim the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children despite the government and medical experts’ vehement denials.
Pakistan has reported six new cases of polio since January.
According to the World Health Organization, Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan remain the only two countries where the potentially fatal, paralyzing virus has not been eradicated.
Gunmen abduct two polio vaccinators in Pakistan’s Dera Ismail Khan district
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Gunmen abduct two polio vaccinators in Pakistan’s Dera Ismail Khan district
- Kidnapping happened ahead of nationwide anti-polio campaign which will begin on April 21 to vaccinate 45 million children
- Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan remain only two countries where paralyzing polio virus has not been eradicated
Pakistan says 41 suspected militants killed in operations in restive Balochistan province
- Military says intelligence-based raids carried out in Harnai and Panjgur districts
- Islamabad repeats claim militants backed by New Delhi, an allegation India denies
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces killed 41 suspected militants in two separate intelligence-based operations in the southwestern province of Balochistan, the military said on Thursday, alleging the fighters were linked to India.
The operations were carried out in the districts of Harnai and Panjgur in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but least developed province and home to a long running separatist insurgency that frequently targets security personnel, government infrastructure and non-local residents.
“On 29 January 2026, 41 terrorists belonging to Indian proxy, Fitna al Khwarij and Fitna al Hindustan, were killed in two separate operations in Balochistan,” the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said in a statement.
According to the ISPR, 30 militants were killed in Harnai district following a “heavy exchange of fire,” during which security forces also destroyed a cache of recovered weapons and explosives.
In a separate intelligence-based operation in Panjgur district, the military said 11 additional suspected militants were killed after security forces raided a hideout.
“Besides weapons and ammunition, looted money from bank robbery in Panjgur on 15 December 2025 were also recovered from the killed terrorists,” the statement said.
“The terrorists were involved in numerous terrorist activities in the past.”
Pakistan’s military and government frequently use the terms “Fitna al Khwarij” and “Fitna al Hindustan” to describe militant groups it associates with the Pakistani Taliban and alleged Indian support.
The ISPR said follow-up “sanitization operations” were underway to eliminate any remaining militants in the area, describing them as “Indian-sponsored terrorists.”
Islamabad has repeatedly accused India of backing separatist groups in Balochistan to destabilize Pakistan, an allegation New Delhi denies.
Earlier this month, Pakistan’s counterterrorism police said they killed five militants planning attacks on security forces and an attempt to block the Quetta–Sibi highway, a key transport route. On Jan. 25, the military also reported killing three militants, including a local commander, in an intelligence-based operation in Panjgur.
Balochistan is strategically important due to its vast mineral resources and its role as a transit corridor for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a multibillion-dollar infrastructure initiative linking Pakistan with China.
Separatist groups such as the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources without fair local benefit, a claim the government rejects.
