PESHAWAR: Gunmen opened fire on a polio vaccination team in Bajaur tribal district on Wednesday, killing one of those handing out doses and one policeman escorting him, police said, in an attack later claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.

The attack in the region bordering Afghanistan comes two days after Pakistan launched its latest national campaign to stamp out the virus, which still poses a health threat in the South Asian nation, although mostly eradicated elsewhere.

“Unidentified armed men opened fire on polio vaccination team in a subdivision of Bajaur tribal district as they were on the vaccination campaign,” district police officer Waqas Rafique told Reuters.

The Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said in a statement their fighters had killed a police officer accompanying the polio team and injured one other. The statement made no mention of the polio worker or the reason for the attack.