Gunmen have shot and killed a mother and her daughter who were working for an anti-polio campaign under way in Pakistan’s south-western city of Quetta, police said.
The attack took place as hundreds of polio teams were vaccinating children against the crippling disease, police official Naseeb Ullah said.
Pakistan this week launched a drive against polio across the country.
Aggrieved, heartbroken and enraged at the loss of two of our invaluable and brave polio workers in a cowardly attack in Quetta.
The culprits behind this atrocity, depriving innocent children of their right to a healthy future, deserve the strictest of reprimand.
— Senator Ayesha Raza (@AyeshaRaza13) January 18, 2018
In a separate attack in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, assailants killed two policemen.
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi condemned the attacks. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack.
Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the only three countries in the world where polio is endemic and has not been eliminated.
Pakistan’s government regularly launches anti-polio drives despite threats from the Taliban, who perceive the campaign as part of a Western conspiracy and claim it will sterilise Pakistani children.
