Polio team policeman shot dead

Peshawar: A policeman, who was to escort an anti-polio team, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Pakistan's restive northwestern province.

The constable was targeted in Babini area in Chora Police Station precincts in district Mardan Khyber Pakthunkhwa.

According to police, the constable was on his way for duty in Sher Garh on the second day of the anti-polio campaign when unidentified assailants opened fire on him, killing him on-the-spot.

The police officials said that the bullet hit constable's head. The police have started a large-scale search operation in the area to nab the involved persons.

Pakistan is one of only three countries where the crippling disease remains endemic.

But Islamist militants consider anti-polio vaccines as a western conspiracy to sterilise muslims. Scores of health workers in Pakistan have been killed in the last two years as a result.