Two police officers escorting polio vaccination teams were shot dead in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, 3 November, in the latest attack on the country's immunisation drive. This is a catch-up report on that attack, published after the event.

Gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on the officers in Mohmand district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as they travelled to guard vaccination teams in a nearby village. A third officer was wounded. No polio vaccination staff were in the police vehicle, police official Ali Rehman Khan told the AFP news agency.

Named victims, no claim of responsibility

The Express Tribune named the dead policemen as Zahoor and Arabi, and the wounded officer as Sabir. District Police Officer Raza Muhammad Khan said the attack took place in the Tamanzai area, within the jurisdiction of Pandiali police station.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility. Similar attacks have regularly been carried out by the Pakistan Taliban, known as the TTP, and other armed groups, though no attribution has been made for this shooting.

A campaign under attack

The shooting came a day after four polio workers were abducted in Tank district, also in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and two more were held briefly in Lower South Waziristan before being released.

The violence coincided with a nationwide campaign launched on Sunday, 2 November, aiming to reach nearly 24 million children across 97 high-risk districts. The same day, health authorities registered Pakistan's eighth polio case of the year, in a 13-month-old girl from Khyber district.

Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan are the only two countries where wild poliovirus remains endemic. Pakistan reported 31 cases last year. At least 47 attacks targeting polio workers have been reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since 2020, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal.

Sources: AP, Suspected militants open fire, kill 2, 3 November 2026; PTI via Nagaland Post, 2 police officers guarding polio team killed in attack in northwest Pakistan, 3 November 2026; KhabarWire, Mohmand polio team attack, 3 November 2026.