QUETTA: Unidentified gunmen killed two police constables deployed to protect a polio vaccination team in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, a police official said, in the latest attack targeting law enforcers deployed for anti-polio campaigns.

The incident took place at Killi Jamal Abad, a neighborhood located 1.5 kilometers from Balochistan’s Nushki city. The police constables were deployed to protect a polio vaccination team as its members were busy inoculating children in the area.

Pakistan launched a sub-national polio campaign across 115 districts on Monday to vaccinate 31 million children. Pakistan happens to be one of only two countries worldwide where polio is endemic. It has reported four cases of the disease this year.

“Two police constables identified as Abdul Rauf and Muhmmad Yasir were killed in the attack,” Munawar Zaman, Station House Officer (SHO) City Police Nushki told Arab News.

“The polio team comprising male and female workers remained unhurt in the attack and were shifted to a safe location.”

Zaman said the attackers took away the slain police officers’ weapons. He said a search operation was launched in the area to located the attackers.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. However, Pakistan’s efforts to eliminate polio have often faced resistance from militant groups in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

These militant groups believe the polio eradication program is part of a Western conspiracy to sterilize children. Attacks on polio teams or security forces guarding voluntary polio vaccinators are common in these provinces.

In May 2025, a police official guarding a polio vaccination team was shot dead in Nushki district. In another similar attack, a policeman was targeted and killed when the polio teams were resting during a lunch break in Balochistan’s Naseerabad in April 2025.