Blast At Pakistan Polio Vaccine Center Kills 15

The most recent attack came in November a year ago, when unknown gunmen shot and killed the head of an immunisation programme in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa district of Swabi. “However, the vaccination campaign will continue across the province at all costs”, he said in a statement.

Twelve policemen, an FC soldier and a civilian were killed on the spot while an injured constable died in the Combined Military Hospital.

Apart from attacks on vaccination teams, Balochistan has been racked for decades by a separatist insurgency that was revived in 2004. Since the USA claimed the use of a phony vaccination program to track down Osama bin Laden, many in Pakistan have treated vaccination programs as probable shams or foreign plots.

Another witness, Noorullah, said the bodies of uniformed police personnel were lying in pools of blood while limbs of the other dead were scattered at a distance.

Another 25 people were reportedly injured. Six of the severely injured people were sent to the CMH.

Home Minister of Balochistan Sarfraz Bugti confirmed that the blast killed 13 policemen and a paramilitary Frontier Corps man.

“We were living in a conflict zone and hostile agencies were targeting us”, Sarfaraz Bugti said.

According to the reports, the explosion took place close to a government-run polio centre in Quetta’s Satellite Town.

Police routinely accompany anti-polio workers to protect them from the Taliban. The glass windows of nearby buildings shattered due to intensity of the blast.

The Pakistani Taliban also claimed responsibility in a statement released by their spokesman, Mohammad Khorasani.

Ahmed Marwat, who identified himself as a commander and spokesman for Jundullah, said his group was responsible.

The blast is under investigation, he said.

“No polio worker or other staff member was hurt”, Dr Syed Saifur Rehman, the Coordinator of the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre, said.

Attacks by fundamentalist Taliban (scholars) militants opposed to polio vaccination have left at least 80 people dead since 2013.

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He said the police and FC personnel laid down their lives to save civilians.