Bombs kill 6 Pakistani police guarding polio teams

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A double bombing struck convoys of tribal police assigned to guard polio workers in a northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing six of them, police said.

Police official Nawabzada Khan said six officers were wounded when the first bomb hit a police escort vehicle in the Lashora village of Jamrud tribal region in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Khan said minutes later, another roadside bomb struck a convoy of tribal police officers dispatched there to transport victims of the first attack, killing six officers and wounding 14 others. He said gunmen also opened fire, triggering a shootout that was still going on.

"Initial reports suggest that at least six tribal police officers have been killed and 20 have been wounded in the two separate bomb attacks, but all the polio workers are safe," he said.

No one claimed responsibility for the two separate bombings, but anti-polio teams or their guards have been frequently targeted in Pakistan by Islamic militants, who say the campaigns are a tool for spying and claim the vaccine makes boys sterile.

Pakistan is one of the few remaining countries where polio persists and most cases found in its northwest, where militants make it difficult to reach children for vaccination.