Two Police Officers Guarding Polio Teams Shot Dead in Pakistan Mohmand Attack

Two police officers guarding polio vaccination teams were shot dead in Mohmand district in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Tuesday, November 3, and a third officer was wounded. Suspected militants riding a motorcycle opened fire as the officers traveled to a nearby village to guard teams carrying out door-to-door vaccinations, police officer Ayaz Khan said, according to the Associated Press.

The attackers fled the scene, and no group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. No vaccinator was hurt in the shooting. All of the casualties were police personnel.

Two accounts of the location

Officials gave two accounts of where the shooting happened, and both are reported here with their sources. Headquarters Deputy Superintendent of Police Liaquat Ali said the attack took place near the Hashim Kor police checkpost in Pindiali tehsil of Mohmand district, the Pakistani daily Dawn reported, in reporting carried by IANS. District Police Officer Raza Muhammad Khan said the attack took place in the Tamanzai area, within the jurisdiction of Pandiali police station, The Express Tribune reported. A search operation is under way in the area.

Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack and offered condolences to the families of the killed officers. He described the attack as 'intolerable', the Associated Press reported.

A campaign under strain

The shooting came during a subnational polio vaccination campaign that began on Monday, November 2 and runs until November 8. The campaign aims to reach around 24 million children in 97 districts, according to the National Emergency Operations Centre for Polio Eradication.

Pakistan has reported eight polio cases so far in 2026, and six of them were in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The latest case was confirmed on Sunday, November 1 in Khyber district, the National Emergency Operations Centre said.

The Mohmand attack was the second attack on the campaign in two days. On Monday, November 2, four polio workers were kidnapped by unidentified assailants in Tank district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a separate attack during the same campaign week. The two attacks fell on consecutive days, November 2 and November 3, in the same province.

Police said the Mohmand officers were on their way to guard vaccination teams in a nearby village when they came under fire. The teams they were assigned to protect were taking part in the door-to-door campaign, and the shooting left the security detail with two officers dead and one wounded while the vaccinators themselves were unharmed.