Jamrud: Police confirmed on Wednesday that unidentified armed men abducted a polio vaccination supervisor, identified as Jalil Khan, from Chapri village in Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Khyber district.
According to police, the supervisor was intercepted by armed men while returning home on Tuesday night and taken to an undisclosed location.
District Police Officer (DPO) Waqar Ahmad confirmed the abduction and said a large police contingent was deployed to the area to search for the missing supervisor.
Police set up checkpoints and blocked key routes as part of efforts to trace the abductors and secure Khan's recovery. The identity of the kidnappers and their motive remains unknown.
Attacks on polio teams continue across KP
The abduction follows several security incidents involving polio vaccination personnel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the ongoing immunisation campaign.
On November 3, two police officers were killed, and another was injured when unidentified armed men attacked personnel assigned to protect a vaccination team in Mohmand district.
Earlier, four polio workers were abducted in the village of Jious in the Sheikh Attar union council of Tank district.
In another incident, two members of the vaccination team were kidnapped from Azam Warsak in Lower South Waziristan. Both were later released.
These incidents raised concerns about the safety of healthcare workers and security personnel engaged in immunisation campaigns, particularly in districts affected by militant violence.
Vaccination campaign underway in 97 districts
According to the National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication, the campaign is scheduled to run until November 8, covering 97 selected districts and targeting approximately 24 million children.
Over 200000 frontline health workers were deployed to administer vaccines during the campaign.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where wild poliovirus remains endemic.
Search for abducted supervisor continues
Police said efforts to locate Jalil Khan remain underway, with security personnel monitoring routes in and around Jamrud.
No group claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, and authorities did not announce any arrests.
The incident highlights the security challenges facing Pakistan's polio eradication programme as authorities seek to maintain vaccination coverage while ensuring the safety of frontline health workers.
