A terrorist was killed in an exchange of fire following an attack on a police team on polio duty on Monday in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lower South Waziristan district, according to a statement by the province’s Inspector General of Police’s (IGP) office.
Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities over the past year, especially in KP and Balochistan, after the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022.
According to the statement, “unidentified terrorists attacked the station house officer (SHO) of the Azam Warsak police station and a team of cops in the Kalosha area”.
“The SHO and the police team were on polio duty,” it added.
The statement read that “one terrorist was killed in an exchange of fire” that lasted for about 30 minutes. The statement continued that the remaining terrorists fled the scene.
The authorities recovered a sub-machine gun, rocket launcher and two motorcycles from the assailants.
As per the statement, the slain terrorist was identified as “Afnan, who was carrying two identity cards, three ATM cards and a smartphone”.
It added that one of the recovered cards belonged to the terrorist but the other one belonged to a police constable, who was martyred in an attack before Eidul Fitr. The constable’s case had been registered at the Counter Terrorism Department police station in South Waziristan.
“Additional personnel and armoured personnel carriers have been dispatched to investigate the area and protect polio teams,” the statement read.
“KP IGP Zulfiqar Hameed has congratulated the police team and announced a reward,” it concluded.
A day earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched this year’s second nationwide anti-polio campaign, running from April 21 to April 27.
The vaccinators, who go door-to-door to inoculate children, are frequently targeted by militants, especially in KP and Balochistan. In 2024 alone, 20 people were killed and 53 injured during anti-polio campaigns in the province.
In February, a police official was martyred in KP’s Bajaur in an attack on a polio vaccination team. Police had said the official was heading to his post when gunmen on a motorbike opened fire, killing him on the spot.
