KABUL \u2013 February 25 (ONLINE): Eight members of polio vaccination teams working to eradicate the crippling virus in Afghanistan were killed on Thursday in four separate attacks, the United Nations said.<\/p>\n
Polio teams were frequently targeted by insurgent groups in Afghanistan until the Taliban\u2019s takeover of the country last year, when the hardline group said it wanted to work with the UN to stamp out the disease.<\/p>\n
In the past polio campaigns in Afghanistan \u2014 and neighbouring Pakistan \u2014 were accused of being fronts for spying, while some clerics said the vaccine was a conspiracy to sterilise Muslims.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are appalled by the brutality of these killings, across four separate locations,\u201d the UN said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis senseless violence must stop immediately, and those responsible must be investigated and brought to justice. These attacks are a violation of international humanitarian law.\u201d The Taliban said they had \u201creceived the news\u201d of the incidents and were trying to get more information.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur policy is clear, we want to vaccinate and protect all the children in Afghanistan under the age of five,\u201d Javid Hajir, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, told AFP.<\/p>\n
The UN said one person was killed in Takhar province in the far north, and seven in neighbouring Kunduz provinces \u2014 including four in the provincial capital Kunduz city.<\/p>\n
They were engaged in house-to-house visits or on their way to begin campaigns, the UN said.<\/p>\n
Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries in the world where polio has not been eradicated, although Pakistan last month reported a year without a case for the first time in history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KABUL \u2013 February 25 (ONLINE): Eight members of polio vaccination teams working to eradicate the crippling virus in Afghanistan were killed on Thursday in four separate attacks, the United Nations said. Polio teams were frequently targeted by insurgent groups in Afghanistan until the Taliban\u2019s takeover […]<\/p>\n
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