Pakistani police: Gunmen attack anti-polio health center in country's northwest, kill medic

Hospital staff members help an injured health move to another room at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Saturday, Dec. 28, 2013. Pakistani police said that gunmen attacked an anti-polio vaccination center in Pakistan's northwest and killed at least one medic on duty, then fled the scene. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pakistani hospital staff members carry an injured health worker to an operation theater Saturday at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Pakistani police say gunmen attacked an anti-polio vaccination center in the country’s northwest and killed a medic on duty, then fled the scene.

Police official Raheem Khan says another technician was also wounded in Saturday’s attack on the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The health facility is run by the party of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and authorities are using it to vaccinate children against polio.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but militants have killed several polio workers and police protecting them in recent months.

Pakistan is one of only three countries where the polio virus is still endemic. Militants oppose vaccination against polio and consider such campaigns a cover for spying. They also claim the vaccine is intended to make Muslim boys sterile.