Tariq Saeed Peshawar
A bomb blast targeting a police van assigned to providing security to Polio vaccinators in South Waziristan tribal district Monday left over a dozen people seriously wounded. The victims include six men in uniform.
“A remote-controlled bomb targeted a police van in South Waziristan injuring 13 people which included six police personnel and seven civilians,” hospital and police officials said adding the bomb exploded on a police van at Kirkot Road in the Wana Rustam Bazar.
The security forces and the rescue teams rushed to the site of the blast as soon as the explosion was reported and cordoned off the area shifting the injured to the District Headquarters Hospital Wana.
One of the critically injured victims of the attack has been shifted to Dera Ismail Khan. Medical Superintendent District Headquarters Hospital said the injured brought to the hospital included both civilians and police personnel.
The Police authorities said it was the first day of the Polio eradication campaign in the region. “At least two police vehicles were going towards Kirkot Road to provide security to the polio workers in the locality, which is when one of the vehicles was targeted in the attack,” they added.
District Health Officer South Waziristan said the polio campaign has been started across the district Monday with at least 70,000 children over the age of five are being vaccinated adding strict security arrangements have been made throughout the district with 480 police personnel deployed for the security of 297 polio teams.
Polio teams administering Polio drops, mostly comprising the female health volunteers as well as the security personnel providing security to them, it may be recalled, have been under terrorist’s attacks for the last many years in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
