Bombing of Pakistan polio vaccine drive kills 7: police

A bombing near a girls' school in western Pakistan killed seven people, including five children, in an attack targeting police guarding polio vaccinators on Friday, officials said.

"The police van that came under attack was taking personnel for the protection of polio staff," Rahmat Ullah, a senior police officer, told AFP.

He added that "there is a girls' school near the place of the attack" in the city of Mastung in Balochistan province.

Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan are the only countries where polio remains endemic and vaccination teams are frequently targeted by militants waging a campaign against security forces.

"Seven individuals: one police officer, five children and one shopkeeper" were killed in the attack at the city's main market, senior officer Abdul Fatah told AFP.

Interior minister Mohsin Naqvi earlier put the death toll at three children and one police officer.

"Targeting children is an act of brutality," he said in a statement. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast.

Earlier this week, two police officers guarding polio vaccinators going door-to-door in northwestern Pakistan were shot dead in an attack blamed on militants.

It came a day after Pakistan launched a week-long drive aiming to immunise more than 45 million children over the age of five.

Pakistan has seen a surge in polio cases this year, recording at least 41 so far in 2024 compared with six in 2023.

The country has also been battling a resurgence of militant violence in its western regions since 2021, when the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan.

Islamabad accuses Kabul's rulers of failing to root out militants staging attacks on Pakistan from over the border.

The most active group in Balochistan is the Baloch Liberation Army, a separatist group that regularly targets Islamabad's security forces and citizens hailing from elsewhere in Pakistan.