Female polio worker, daughter gunned down in Quetta

Unidentified armed men attacked a polio team in city's Shalkot area

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QUETTA: Unidentified armed men attacked on Thursday a polio vaccination team in Shalkot area of the city. A female polio worker and her daughter were killed as a result of the firing. 

"Sakina Bibi and her daughter Rizwana Bibi, 12, were killed by unknown assailants," spokesman of Emergency Operation Centre for Polio Eradication Balochistan Muhammad Zafar confirmed to Geo News.

Police officials reached the site of the attack after the incident and launched an investigation. 

Army personnel at the crime site. Photo: Geo News

A polio immunisation drive was underway in Balochistan this week, wherein more than 2.4 million children were to be administered the polio vaccine. 

Anti-polio workers are often targetted in Pakistan, which remains one of the handful of countries where the crippling disease is still endemic.

In December last year, a polio case was reported in the Gulistan area of Killa Abdullah district of Balochistan after a 16-month-old child was diagnosed with the virus.

The total polio cases reported in the country last year was eight of which three were from Balochistan. 

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