Policeman guarding polio workers killed in Pak blast

Peshawar: A policeman guarding a polio vaccination team was killed and another injured in a bomb blast near this northwestern Pakistani city on Sunday, the latest in a series of attacks on workers involved in the campaign against the crippling disease.

The incident happened near a CNG station on the outskirts of Peshawar, officials of a rescue service said. One policeman was killed and the injured was taken to a nearby hospital. According to Superintendent of Police (Rural) Rahim Shah, the bomb was planted near a post of the 'Sehat Ka Insaf' programme.

The programme has replaced polio campaigns. Instead of running a polio-specific drive, health workers are now targeting nine vaccine-preventable diseases, including polio. Bomb Disposal Squad officials said two kilogrammes of explosives were used in the attack.

No group claimed responsibility for the blast though such attacks are usually blamed on the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, which has banned polio vaccinations in the tribal belt till the US stops its drone strikes.

The Taliban ban has left thousands of children vulnerable to polio even as Pakistan remains one of only three countries where the disease in endemic. Dozens of health workers and policemen have died in attacks on polio vaccination teams in the country's northwest and Karachi in recent years.

Next: Blast on railway track derails train in Pakistan, 8 killed

Blast on railway track derails train in Pakistan, 8 killed

Karachi: A bomb blast on a railway track derailed a passenger train and killed eight persons, including four children from the same family, in Pakistan's southern Sindh province on Sunday, officials said. More than 30 people were injured in the attack near Thal in Jacobabad.

The explosion occurred as the Khushal Khan Express, travelling from Karachi to Peshawar in the northwest, approached Unnar Wah railway station, officials said. Three coaches were derailed and damaged by the powerful blast, which was triggered by remote control.

Rescue service and railway officials said eight bodies, including those of four children, were pulled out of the derailed coaches. "Four children aged between eight and 12 years belonging to the same family lost their lives," said an official of Edhi Trust, one of Pakistan's leading rescue services.

A police official said dozens of injured were taken to a hospital in Rahimyar Khan. Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique ordered an investigation into the incident. He asked Railways General Manager Anjum Pervez to speed up the recovery work. This was the second such bomb attack this month. Earlier, the Shalimar Express train was targeted near Dhabiji.