Eight polio workers were killed in different attacks on Thursday in two northern provinces of Afghanistan, the United Nations confirmed. The attacks came almost four months after authorities and UN agencies started the immunization drive, prompting the Taliban officials to stop the door-to-door campaign. 
 
In a statement on Thursday, the UN said eight members of polio vaccination teams were killed “during the course of their life-saving work” in Takhar and Kunduz provinces. Ramiz Alakbarov, the U.N. secretary-general's deputy special representative for the South Asian nation, strongly condemned the violence against polio workers.

“We are appalled by the brutality of these killings, across four separate locations,” Alakbarov said, adding, “These are the first attacks on polio workers since nationwide campaigns resumed in November last year.”

No group has yet taken the responsibility for the attacks. The Taliban, the de facto authority in Afghanistan, has suspended the immunization drive in the affected provinces. 

In the last two decades, polio workers were repeatedly targeted by insurgents in Afghanistan, which has been in conflict for over four decades now. In August last year, after the Taliban’s takeover, the vaccination coverage was increased as the fighting stopped in many areas. 

“This senseless violence must stop immediately, and those responsible must be investigated and brought to justice. This is a violation of international humanitarian law,” Alakbarov said. Thursday attacks were the deadliest since the Taliban’s return to power. 
  
Last year in 2021, over nine polio workers were killed in attacks in Afghanistan. Until the recent polio outbreak in Malawi, Pakistan and Afghanistan were the only two remaining countries yet to become free from polio. 

(SAM)