4 polio team workers found dead in Pak

At least four persons including two security escorts of a polio vaccination team, who had gone missing last week, have been found murdered in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province.

As per reports, bodies of an anti-polio volunteer, two constables and a driver who were kidnapped from a remote area of Zhob district last Saturday were found. “They were shot dead by their assailants before their bodies were dumped in the Gowal Ismailzai area near Zhob,” Deputy Commissioner Zhob Nazir Ahmed Khetran said.

“It appears that they were killed by Taliban extremists who are against the polio vaccination drive,” he said, adding that some people in the area had spotted the bodies and informed the police and security officials.

The polio vaccination team had left the district headquarters in Quetta to vaccinate children in the Toda Gibzai area but they didn’t reach their destination. The missing polio workers were identified as Samad – driver, Hameed – vaccinator and constables Naseem and Ayub.

All the shops and markets in Zhob city were closed after the bodies were found as their relatives and people thronged the streets to voice their protests.