JALALABAD (AFP) – At least five polio workers were shot dead in eastern Afghanistan Tuesday, officials said, in the area’s second attacks on vaccinators in less than three months.
The workers were gunned down in three separate locations within hours in a “coordinated attack”, Nangarhar provincial police spokesman Farid Khan said.
“This is the work of the Taliban, targeting health workers to deprive people of polio vaccines,” he said.
Health ministry spokesman Osman Taheri confirmed the attacks. The Taliban denied responsibility.
Polio has been eradicated across the world apart from Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, where distrust of vaccines and eradication campaigns is rife.
The Taliban leaders often tell communities that vaccines are a Western conspiracy.
Officials say the Taliban do not allow door-to-door vaccination campaigns in areas they control.
Tuesday saw five vaccine workers killed and one wounded in a spate of attacks across Nangarhar, the local government said. Three were also wounded in the provincial capital, Jalalabad.
The inoculation drive in the province had now been halted, a health official told AFP.
“These were all targeted attacks against polio vaccinators, and for now we have stopped all polio vaccination drives in Nangarhar province,” the official said, asking not to be named.
The country has faced a devastating wave of targeted attacks on politicians, activists and journalists which the Afghan government has blamed on the Taliban, who routinely deny responsibility.
“We have reached a situation where systematically employees of demining, doctor, nurse, vaccinator, human rights defenders and anyone seeking to save our lives and our children are killed,” said Shaharzad Akbar, the head of Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission.
“There is neither an effective prevention mechanism nor a punishment for the perpetrators.”
In another development, Afghan security forces managed to retake two northern districts from the Taliban, amid a fierce offensive by the militants which has forced Afghan troops out of some areas.
The Khan Abad in Kunduz and Chah Ab in Takha districts were brought under the control of Afghan security forces following days of intense fighting.
“Over 50 militants were killed in face-to-face fighting and by airstrikes in Khan Abad,” Kunduz Police Chief Farid Mashal said on Tuesday. “Some commanders are also among them.”
At least 40 security forces were killed or wounded in clashes over the past 24 hours, the official said.
Afghan forces, meanwhile, withdrew from two other districts as the Taliban intensified their attacks to seize the territories.