Gunmen kill two Pakistani police officers on their way to guard polio vaccinators

L2Who’s affected

Who's affected: Dawn reports the official "identified the martyred cops as Constables Zahoor Khan and Arbai Khan and the injured policeman as Sepoy Sabir Khan"; other outlets spell the second officer's name differently. Dawn says "funeral prayers for the two martyred policemen were offered at the Police Lines in Ghalanai." The campaign the officers were protecting "began across the country on Sunday, targeting nearly 24 million children in 97 high-risk districts" (Dawn); Geo reports "The subnational polio vaccination campaign, which began on November 2, will continue until November 8."

L3Why it’s quiet

A second incident, reported two ways: Dawn reports that KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi took notice of "reports about the abduction of four polio workers in the province’s Tank district"; "Police say the incident took place on Monday." Al Jazeera instead reports that "four officers protecting polio workers were abducted on Monday." The two accounts conflict over who was taken. Attacks on polio security are not new: "In September, two policemen were martyred as armed assailants fired at a polio vaccination team in Balochistan’s Noshki" (Dawn).

L4Deeper impact

The disease: "On Sunday, Pakistan reported its eighth polio case of the ongoing year. The affected child was a 13-month-old girl from KP’s Khyber district. Of the eight cases, six have been reported from KP — including four from Bannu division — and two from Sindh" (Dawn). "Pakistan reported 31 cases of the disease last year" (Al Jazeera).

L5Full context

Full context: "Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio is still endemic" (Dawn). "No one has claimed responsibility for the shooting, but similar attacks have regularly been carried out by the Pakistan Taliban" and other armed groups, Al Jazeera reports. "Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said Tuesday’s shooting was “extremely regrettable and condemnable”" (Al Jazeera).

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