Polio worker gunned down in Pakistan

A member of a polio monitoring team was gunned down on Monday by a man after a verbal brawl during a campaign at a village near Pak-Afghan border in Pakistan's Mohmand district, official said.

The polio team was in the area for the immunisation drive when the accused, Zubair Ali, had heated argument with the deceased polio monitor Wajid Ali for reporting his name to the authorities in previous refusal cases.

Zubair's name was reported to the authorities for refusing to give oral polio drops to his children in the previous campaign at Ghazi Beg area of Momand district.

As the government has announced jail punishment to the parents who refuse to administer polio drops to their children, Zubair got angry.

During the campaign on Monday, when Zubair and Wajid came face to face, the matter took an ugly turn and led to the death of the monitor.

Pakistan is one of only three countries where polio remains endemic, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria.

Efforts to eradicate the crippling disease have been seriously hampered by deadly targeting of vaccination teams in recent years by militants, who oppose the drives, claiming the polio drops cause infertility.

Attacks on immunisation teams have claimed 68 lives since December 2012. In January 2014, three workers were killed while in late 2012 five workers including four female workers were killed in Qayyumabad area.