First attack in 2015! Policeman escorting polio team shot dead in Pakistan

Karachi, Jan 19: A Pakistani policeman escorting a polio vaccination team was on Monday killed by unknown gunmen here, the first such attack this year in the country struggling to contain the crippling disease.

The gunmen riding a motorbike attacked the polio workers in Banaras Orangi Colony of the city. Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Tabassum was killed in the targeted attack by the

, police official Gul Nawaz told PTI.

Noone has taken responsibility for the attack but Taliban oppose the polio vaccination as an alleged conspiracy by the West to sterile Muslims.

The immunisation drive against the crippling disease in the area was immediately stopped after the attack, the first incident of violence against polio teams in 2015.

The attack came just days after the first polio case of the year was confirmed in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan after the country recorded 303 polio cases in 2014. At least 64 polio workers and security personnel escorting the them have been killed in Pakistan by militants.

PTI