Two policemen guarding polio teams killed in Mohmand and four polio workers abducted in Tank as KP attacks hit national drive

Two policemen on their way to protect polio vaccinators were shot dead in Mohmand district, and four polio workers were abducted at gunpoint in Tank district, as Pakistan's week-long national polio campaign came under attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. No group has claimed either attack.

The violence struck in the first two days of the November 2–8 drive, which aims to give drops to about 24 million children under five in 97 districts.

Ambush on the road in Mohmand

The police team was travelling to a village in the Tamanzai area, under Pandiali police station, to escort door-to-door vaccinators when attackers on a motorcycle opened fire. Constables Zahoor and Arabi were killed. A third officer, Sabir, was wounded and taken to hospital.

District Police Officer Raza Muhammad Khan said one of the attackers was also hit and that a search operation was under way. The gunmen escaped. Most accounts date the attack to Tuesday; at least one local report placed it on Monday.

President Asif Ali Zardari said police guarding polio teams were doing a national duty and their sacrifice would not be forgotten. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi called the firing intolerable and said those responsible deserved no leniency.

Four workers taken in Tank

In Tank, armed men fired on a vaccination team in a village of Sheikh Attar union council and drove off with four members to an unknown place. Police sources described the four as the union council medical officer, an area in-charge and two vaccinators. Local reports spell the village differently, as Jiyos or Giyu.

Police and paramilitary forces cordoned off nearby villages and exit routes. By Tuesday afternoon there was no confirmed news of the workers' whereabouts.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi called the abduction extremely regrettable. He said keeping vaccination teams safe is the government's responsibility and told security agencies to use every resource to bring the workers back safely.

Separately, two members of a polio team were abducted in the Azam Warsak area of Lower South Waziristan. Police sources blamed men linked to the banned TTP and said both were later released.

Attacks so far in this campaign

Place	District	What happened	Status
Tamanzai	Mohmand	2 policemen killed, 1 wounded in drive-by shooting	Search for attackers
Sheikh Attar UC	Tank	4 polio staff abducted after gunfire	Whereabouts unknown
Azam Warsak	Lower South Waziristan	2 team members abducted	Released

A campaign that keeps going under guard

The drive is huge. More than 200,000 health workers are going house to house. On day one, more than 6.68 million children got drops nationwide, including more than 1.37 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the National Emergency Operations Centre said.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last two countries where wild poliovirus still spreads. Pakistan's newest case, a 13-month-old girl from Bara in Khyber district, brought the 2026 count to eight under most official tallies; six were in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and two in Sindh. That is a sharp fall from 31 cases in 2025 and 74 in 2024, but the virus has not been wiped out.

Militant groups, including the Pakistani Taliban, have attacked polio teams and their escorts for years, spreading the false claim that vaccination is a Western plot. Most attacks happen in the southern and tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the same belt where Mohmand, Tank and South Waziristan lie, and where most of this year's cases have been found.

What it means for parents

The campaign has not been suspended. Teams will keep visiting homes until November 8, with catch-up visits for missed children afterwards. Parents who miss the team can take children under five to the nearest basic health unit, and can call the government's polio helpline at 1166 for information.

Police in Mohmand and Tank are continuing search operations while the campaign runs to Sunday, November 8.