Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police Chief Sanaullah Abbasi on Wednesday, while taking notice of firing on anti-polio team and the killing of two policemen in the incident, sought a report from the Mardan deputy inspector general and district police officer.
Condemning the incident, IGP said that it was a cowardly attack by the terrorists and assured that soon the culprits involved in the heinous crime would be apprehended and punished.
It is to be noted that two policemen were martyred in Mardan when unidentified gunmen riding on a bike opened fire on an anti-polio team who were returning after completing the vaccination drive.
The victims, identified as police constables Shakir and Syed Raza, were on security duty for the polio team and were on their way back to the police station on a motorcycle after safely dropping the team off, said DPO Zahidullah. He added that the two had been shot at by unknown assailants who then managed to escape.
The rescue and police teams rushed to the site soon after the incident and shifted the dead bodies to Mardan district hospital.
However, the two policemen died on the spot, the DPO informed. The DPO further said that the police had launched an operation to search for the assailants and evidence was being collected from the crime scene.
Moreover, KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan took notice of the incident and said the elements involved in the incident will not be able to escape the “grip of the law”. He added that the provincial government will take every step to help the martyrs’ families.
In a tweet, the spokesperson for the provincial government, Kamran Bangash, termed the incident “deeply saddening”.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack, which came two days after the federal government launched a nationwide drive to eradicate the crippling disease by the end of the year.
Militants often target polio teams and police assigned to protect them, claiming the vaccination campaigns are a ‘Western conspiracy’ to sterilise children.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two remaining countries in the world where polio is endemic, after Nigeria was last year declared free of the virus.
