A bomb targeted a polio vaccination team near a girls’ school in western Pakistan, killing seven people, including five children and a police officer.

Senior police officer Rahmat Ullah told AFP that a police van carrying personnel to protect polio staff was hit on Friday local time.

The explosion, which injured 23 people, was caused by a handmade device attached to a motorcycle in Mastung town of Balochistan province.

The only countries where polio is endemic are Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, and vaccination teams are frequently targeted by militants campaigning against security forces.

Minister of Internal Affairs Muhsin Naqvi strongly condemned the attack.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing.

This comes as Pakistan grapples with a rise in militant attacks in the northwest and a growing separatist insurgency in the south.

Earlier this week, two police officers guarding door-to-door polio vaccination workers in northwestern Pakistan were shot dead in an attack blamed on militants.

It was a day before Pakistan launched a week-long campaign aimed at vaccinating more than 45 million children over the age of five.

Pakistan has seen an increase in polio cases this year; At least 41 cases have been recorded so far in 2024, compared to six cases in 2023.

The country has also been struggling with a resurgence of militant violence in its western regions since 2021, when the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan.

Islamabad accuses Kabul rulers of failing to root out militants who attack Pakistan from across the border.

The most active group in Balochistan is the Baloch Liberation Army, a separatist group that regularly targets Islamabad’s security forces and citizens from elsewhere in Pakistan.

Reuters/AFP