Pakistan reports ninth polio case from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Pakistan has reported its ninth polio case in 2026, involving a seven-month-old boy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Cross-border virus links to Afghanistan raise concerns, while repeated attacks, kidnappings and killings targeting vaccination workers and security personnel threaten ongoing polio eradication campaigns

Islamabad: Pakistan has reported its ninth polio case from Khyber district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local media reported, citing the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC). The affected child is a seven-month-old boy from Bara tehsil in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The latest case is the third case from Khyber and the seventh from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The NOEC said poliovirus detected in three cases from Khyber district has genetic links to Afghanistan, which is facing an outbreak with 50 cases in 2026, signalling cross-border circulation of the virus, Pakistan-based daily Dawn reported.

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Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two nations in the world where wild poliovirus remains endemic. Polio workers in Pakistan have been frequently targetted in attacks, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. A polio campaign team supervisor was kidnapped by unidentified assailants from Jamrud in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday during the ongoing vaccination campaign.

District Police Officer (DPO) Waqar Ahmad said that armed assailants kidnapped the polio campaign team supervisor, identified as Jalil Khan, and took him to an undisclosed place on Wednesday, another Pakistani daily ‘The Express Tribune’ reported. Following the incident, a heavy contingent of police was deployed in the area, and blockades were set up to find Khan.

Two police personnel were killed, and another was injured earlier on Tuesday after unidentified assailants opened fire on them when they were heading to join a polio team for security duty during the vaccination campaign in Mohmand district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Headquarters Deputy Superintendent of Police Liaquat Ali said that the attack took place near the Hashim Kor police checkpost in Pindiali tehsil of Mohmand, Dawn reported.

Earlier on Monday, four polio workers were kidnapped by unidentified assailants after being subjected to gunfire in the Tank district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. As per the details, four polio workers were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in Tank and taken to an undisclosed place.

Police have launched a probe into the incident, The Express Tribune reported. In a separate incident, two polio workers were abducted by gunmen in the Azam Warsak area in Lower South Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and subsequently released.

Gunmen linked to the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were allegedly responsible for the kidnapping of two members of a polio vaccination team. However, both of them were later released.