PESHAWAR, Pakistan.- Two police constables, Zahoor Khan and Arabi Khan, were killed and a third officer, Sabir, was wounded on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, when suspected militants on a motorcycle opened fire on police traveling to guard polio vaccination teams in Mohmand district, in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, officials said. No group immediately claimed responsibility, and the attackers fled the scene.
The officers were heading to a nearby village to protect vaccination teams when they came under fire, police officer Ayaz Khan said, according to The Associated Press. District Police Officer Raza Muhammad Khan said the attack took place in the Tamanzai area, within the jurisdiction of Pandiali police station, and a search operation was launched after additional security personnel were sent to the area. Funeral prayers for Zahoor Khan and Arabi Khan were later held with full state honors at Police Lines Ghalanai.
A campaign to vaccinate 24 million children
Pakistan began a nationwide campaign on Monday to vaccinate nearly 24 million children under five against polio across 97 districts, running from November 2 to 8, according to the National Emergency Operations Center for Polio Eradication. Polio remains endemic only in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, and Pakistan confirmed its eighth polio case of 2026 on Sunday, involving a 13-month-old girl in Khyber district.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi called the attack intolerable, offered his condolences to the families of the killed officers, and said they worked for a healthier future for the country. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi also condemned the attack and called for the immediate and safe recovery of four polio workers abducted the previous day in Tank, another district in the province.
Militant groups regularly target anti-polio drives and the police protecting health workers, falsely claiming that vaccination campaigns are part of a Western conspiracy, The Associated Press reported. In September, two police officers guarding a polio team were killed in a similar attack in Noshki district, Balochistan.
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Sources: The Associated Press via The Hindu and Arab Times, Arab News, Geo News, UrduPoint, November 3, 2026.