At least one policeman was killed and another wounded in two ​separate attacks on polio vaccination teams in Pakistan ‌on Wednesday, police said.

The attacks follow the killing of another police officer on Monday on the first day of the latest ​polio inoculation drive in Pakistan, one of the few ​countries in the world where the disease persists.

Wednesday's ⁠attack took place in Dera Murad Jamali in Balochistan ​province.

"A vaccination team was taking a lunch break when ​unknown assailants opened fire on police escorting them, leaving a constable dead," said Asad Nasar, a senior police officer in the province.

The ​vaccination team remained unhurt, he said.

The second attack took ​place in Hangu, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where a sniper opened ‌fire ⁠on the vaccination team, injuring one police officer, police said.

Polio vaccination teams are accompanied by a police escort in Pakistan, where attacks are common with militant groups falsely ​portraying the campaigns ​as a ⁠Western conspiracy to sterilise children.

Pakistan launched the second phase of its countrywide 2026 anti-polio ​campaign on April 13 to seek to ​eradicate the ⁠disease from the country.

"Despite the attacks, we will continue the vaccination campaign," Deputy Commissioner Zulfiqar Ali said.
Separatist group the ⁠Balochistan ​Liberation Army and the Islamist Tehrik-e-Taliban ​Pakistan claimed responsibility for the incidents in separate statements.