A policeman was killed on Tuesday after unidentified men attacked a polio team in a village in Karak.

The policeman providing security to the polio team was driving a motorcycle when he was shot and martyred. The polio team remained safe during the attack and were shifted to a secure place, Samaareported.

The polio immunization drive has been temporarily halted while the investigation is ongoing to arrest the suspects. The attack came on the second day of the five-day anti-polio drive.

On Monday, Pakistan began its first polio vaccination for 2021 which aims to vaccinate over 40 million children under the age of five. Adhering to strict coronavirus precautionary measures, around 285,000 polio frontline workers will be participating in this campaign and have started visiting parents and caregivers at their doorstep.

Pakistan is one of only two countries where polio remains as attempts to stamp it out have been badly hit by opposition from militants and attacks on immunisation teams that have claimed over 80 lives since December 2012.