Islamabad, Feb 3 : A policeman was killed in firing by unidentified militants in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Monday morning, official sources said.

The incident happened at about 9:20 am local time (GMT 0420) in the Khyber district where the policeman, who was on duty as part of a polio vaccination campaign, was targetted.

The assailants fled the scene after seizing the cop's submachine gun, the sources added.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. However, the sources indicated that the area has seen increased activities by militant groups, including factions associated with the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

Police cordoned off the area, and an investigation into the attack has commenced, Xinhua news agency reported.

Pakistan, along with Afghanistan, remains one of the last two polio-endemic countries in the world. The country has experienced a concerning surge in poliovirus cases, with 73 instances of the crippling disease reported in 2024.

Over the years, questions have been raised over the Pakistan government's continued failure to handle the spread of polio virus in the country, especially in the troubled provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan which have seen rejection of polio vaccination campaigns and even casualties for health workers.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had on Sunday kicked off a nationwide anti-polio campaign for the year 2025, reaffirming his government's determination to completely eliminate the polio disease from the South Asian country.

The immunisation campaign, which will run from February 3 to February 9, would target millions of children in the country to save their future and health, the Pakistani Prime Minister said while addressing the launching ceremony.

He said that polio teams would reach the far-flung areas and villages across the country to eradicate the disease, hoping that the teams would successfully meet the huge national responsibility by utilising their complete energies.

Sharif said a total of 73 polio cases were reported last year in the country, which emerged as a huge challenge, besides posing a setback, adding that this year only one new case had been reported so far.

Expressing his resolve to eradicate polio at all costs, Sharif said that dedicated teamwork and support from international partners are crucial factors in the fight against the disease.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. The virus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (for example, contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine.

Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness of the neck and pain in the limbs.

/IANS