Two polio workers abducted in northwest Pakistan

Islamabad, April 15 (IANS) Two health workers affiliated with Pakistan's anti-polio campaign were abducted by unidentified gunmen in the country's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said Tuesday.

The incident occurred in the Kulachi area of Dera Ismail Khan district, where armed men intercepted a passenger bus en route to Dera Ismail Khan and forcibly took the two workers -- Raz Muhammad and Muhammad Asif -- to an unknown location, a local police official said.

The victims were returning from official duties related to the country's polio eradication campaign, police said.

Law enforcement agencies have launched a search and rescue operation in the area. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the abduction, Xinhua news agency reported.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where wild poliovirus remains endemic. Polio workers have frequently been targeted in attacks, particularly in the northwest and southwest regions.

One of the reasons for the presence of the virus is the refusal of the majority of the people to have their children vaccinated. Polio health workers have been victims of targetted killings and attacks by militant groups, who have opposed anti-polio campaigns in the country.

On Sunday, the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme said in a statement that Poliovirus has been detected in sewage samples from 20 districts across Pakistan following test results from the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH).

The environmental samples were collected between March 5 and March 19, confirming the presence of Wild Poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in multiple areas.

"A total of 60 environmental samples were collected from 51 districts during this period. Of these, 25 samples tested positive for poliovirus, while 35 were declared negative," the statement said.

The statement added that while the detection of poliovirus in sewage remains a concern, the number of positive samples has declined, indicating a reduction in virus circulation in several areas.

The samples that confirmed the presence of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) came from districts including Dukki, Kech, Khuzdar, Lasbela, Loralai, Nasirabad, Pishin, Quetta, Usta Muhammad, Bannu, Kohat, Lakki Marwat, Peshawar, South Waziristan Lower, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Dera Ghazi Khan, Lahore, Multan, and Rahim Yar Khan.

--IANS

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