Police launch operation against polio team attackers in Karachi

KARACHI: Police launched an operation at Al-Asif Square in Sohrab Goth against criminals believed to be involved in the attacks on polio teams in the city.

According to reports, police in armed vehicles cordoned off Al-Asif Square area in Sohrab Goth to conduct a search operation after receiving information regarding the presence of criminals involved in the attacks on polio vaccination teams in the area.

During the operation, the accused opened fire on the police teams and as a result of retaliation, two accused, one of them a foreigner were killed who were hiding in the nearby graveyard. Police also recovered weapons and hand grenades from the graveyard that the culprits had tried to hide from the security forces.

SSP Gaddap said that security forces decided to conduct a search operation in the area as there were reports of foreigners hiding in the area. So far, over 20 suspects have been detained and a majority of them are foreigners. Reports also said that there are over one dozen armed men present in the area.

Earlier, police had arrested 25 persons during a search operation in Landhi and Quaidabad areas and registered the cases against unidentified men for killing four female polio workers in the city.

Following the targeted killings of polio team members, the Sindh Government has suspended the polio campaign in the province.

The UN children's agency UNICEF and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have also suspended work on campaigns against polio in Pakistan after a series of attacks against workers in Karachi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.