A police vehicle, assigned to provide protection to polio workers during the nationwide polio vaccination campaign, was targeted by a deadly bomb attached to a motorcycle in a district near Quetta, Balochistan.
On Monday, October 28, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, launched a week-long countrywide anti-polio drive to protect 45 million children from the crippling effects of the disease, reported AP News.
The fatal bombing ended up wounding 17 people, while nine lost their lives that included 5 children, as per the local police officials.
As per the police chief, Fateh Mohammad, the attack was carried out in a district, Mastung, which is located nearby Quetta in the southwest of Pakistan.
Mohammad also told that at the time when the bomb blast happened, an auto rickshaw carrying school children was nearby the spot, leading to the death of five children along with a police officer and two passersby.
According to the spokesperson for the health department, Wasim Baig, some of the injured people were rushed to a hospital in Quetta among which seven people died on the spot while two mean, who were severely wounded, lost their lives at the hospital.
The seven-day-long polio campaign, which was initiated on Monday, October 28, is scheduled to end on Sunday, November 3, 2024.
Notably, Pakistan has recorded 41 cases across 71 districts so far this year.
