Day Of Sorrow As Mother And Daughter Are Shot Dead While Working For Anti-Polio Campaign

In what will come across as a really heartbreaking development, a mother and her daughter who were working for an anti-polio campaign underway in Pakistan's southwestern city of Quetta have been shot and killed by gunmen on Thursday.

 

According to The Associated Press, 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.

 

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 sterilize Pakistani children.