Poliomyelitis workers are targeted at three locations in Jalalabad city: the latest in a series of attacks on health workers.
Four polio vaccine workers have been killed and three others injured in separate attacks in the eastern city of Jalalabad, Afghanistan, a provincial health department official said in the latest in a series of attacks on health workers.
A wave of assassinations has hit urban centers since peace talks began between the Taliban and the Afghan government last year in Doha, many of them aimed at government employees, health workers, media outlets. communication and members of civil society.
Dr Jan Mohammad, head of the polio vaccination unit in Nangarhar, of which Jalalabad is the main city, said on Tuesday that gunmen attacked polio workers in three places in the city which killed them. four and injure three more.
“Today was the second day of our operations after three months, but we have to suspend it once again,” Mohammad told Reuters news agency, adding that all the killings were men.
Pistols killed three women workers on polio vaccination in Jalalabad in March this year, forcing health workers to suspend their operations and assess safety.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries in the world where polio remains endemic.
No group claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attacks.
The Taliban, which is fighting to overthrow the Afghan government with foreign support, has denied involvement in previous attacks.
The ISIL group (ISIS) has also claimed responsibility for several killings aimed at the country’s nascent civil society, as well as journalists and legal professionals.
Zia ul Haq Amarkhil, the governor of Nangarhar, said police were investigating the attacks.
Many of Afghanistan’s conservative society oppose vaccinations, with fighters often attacking health workers claiming that the West uses them as protection against espionage.
He recent increase in violence it comes when the United States and NATO are completing their military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
It is estimated that 2,500-3,500 U.S. soldiers and 7,000 NATO allied troops will have to leave before 9/11, although there are projections that could be withdrawn by mid-July.
