Unidentified gunmen have shot at a polio vaccination team in the Afghan city of Jalalabad. Four team members were killed and at least three were injured.
To date, none of the militant groups operating in the area has claimed responsibility, the coordinator of the polio vaccination campaign in the east of the country said. In March, the Islamic State terrorist organization claimed another attack on a polio vaccination team, also in Jalalabad. Then three female team members were shot dead.
Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan are the only countries in the world where polio still occurs. Nigeria was declared polio free last year. Despite the fight against the coronavirus, Afghanistan is trying to continue to vaccinate 9.6 million children against polio, with help from the United Nations children’s rights organization UNICEF.
Last year, 54 new polio infections were reported. The campaign resumed in January after a year of violence that left 3.4 million children under the age of 5 without a vaccine. The increase in violence and chaos is related to the to withdraw of the US and NATO soldiers from the country. This must be completed by September 11.
Conspiracy
Attacks on polio vaccination teams are common in Afghanistan. It happens even more often in Pakistan. Last week, two officers accompanying a vaccination team were shot dead in the northwest of the country.
The Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups are attacking the teams and their security guards, as well as targeting vaccination centers and medical personnel. They claim the vaccination is part of a Western conspiracy campaign to sterilize children or obtain classified information.
Attacks in Pakistan increased after the US intelligence agency CIA mounted a fake hepatitis vaccination campaign as a cover for the hunt for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. He was tracked down and killed by US commandos in Pakistan in 2011.
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