Suspected militants open fire and kill 2 police officers guarding polio workers in Pakistan

On November 3, 2026, suspected militants riding a motorcycle shot and killed two police officers in Mohmand district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, while they were en route to protect polio vaccination teams during a door-to-door campaign. A third officer was injured in the attack but survived. The policemen targeted were Constables Zahoor Khan and Arbai Khan, with Sepoy Sabir Khan sustaining injuries.

The incident occurred near the Hashim Kor police checkpost in the Dag Tamanzai area of Pindiali tehsil when the officers were traveling to a nearby village for security duty. No group claimed responsibility immediately, but similar attacks are often attributed to the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups who falsely claim that polio vaccination campaigns are part of a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi described the attack as "intolerable" and offered condolences to the families of the slain officers. The country had recently launched a nationwide campaign to vaccinate 24 million children against polio, aiming to eradicate the disease.