Gunmen Kill 2 Security Officials Assigned to Protect Polio Workers in Pakistan

A health worker marks a child's hand after administering polio vaccine drops at school during a door-to-door vaccination campaign in Quetta, Pakistan, 22 April 2025. EPA/FAYYAZ AHMAD
A health worker marks a child's hand after administering polio vaccine drops at school during a door-to-door vaccination campaign in Quetta, Pakistan, 22 April 2025. EPA/FAYYAZ AHMAD
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Gunmen Kill 2 Security Officials Assigned to Protect Polio Workers in Pakistan

A health worker marks a child's hand after administering polio vaccine drops at school during a door-to-door vaccination campaign in Quetta, Pakistan, 22 April 2025. EPA/FAYYAZ AHMAD
A health worker marks a child's hand after administering polio vaccine drops at school during a door-to-door vaccination campaign in Quetta, Pakistan, 22 April 2025. EPA/FAYYAZ AHMAD

Gunmen riding on a motorcycle shot and killed two security officials assigned to protect polio workers in restive southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday before fleeing the scene, police said.
The attack occurred in a residential area of Mastung, a district in Balochistan, according to Mohammad Arif, a local police official. According to the Associated Press, no one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
The health workers, who were vaccinating children in a nearby street, were unharmed, the official said.
Shahid Rind, a government spokesman in Balochistan, denounced the attack, which came two days after Pakistan launched a weeklong nationwide vaccination campaign aimed at protecting 45 million children from polio.
According to the World Health Organization, Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan remain the only two countries where the potentially fatal, paralyzing virus hasn’t been stopped.
Police and health workers are often attacked by militants who falsely claim that vaccination efforts are part of a Western plot to sterilize Muslim children.
Pakistan saw a surge in polio cases last year, with 74 reported cases compared to just one in 2021. The South Asian country reported just six cases since January.
Since the 1990s, more than 200 polio workers and the police assigned to protect them have been killed in attacks.



Palestine Action's Co-founder Asks UK Court to Overturn Terror Group Ban

A person holds a Palestinian flag outside the High Court on the day of a hearing about the banned pro-Palestinian campaign organisation Palestine Action, in London, Britain, July 21, 2025. REUTERS
A person holds a Palestinian flag outside the High Court on the day of a hearing about the banned pro-Palestinian campaign organisation Palestine Action, in London, Britain, July 21, 2025. REUTERS
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Palestine Action's Co-founder Asks UK Court to Overturn Terror Group Ban

A person holds a Palestinian flag outside the High Court on the day of a hearing about the banned pro-Palestinian campaign organisation Palestine Action, in London, Britain, July 21, 2025. REUTERS
A person holds a Palestinian flag outside the High Court on the day of a hearing about the banned pro-Palestinian campaign organisation Palestine Action, in London, Britain, July 21, 2025. REUTERS

The co-founder of a pro-Palestinian campaign group sought on Monday to challenge the British government's decision to ban the group under anti-terrorism laws, a move her lawyers said had "the hallmarks of an authoritarian and blatant abuse of power".

Huda Ammori, who helped found Palestine Action in 2020, is asking London's High Court to give the go-ahead for a full challenge to the group's proscription, which was made on the grounds it committed or participated in acts of terrorism.

Earlier this month, the High Court refused Ammori's application to pause the ban and, following an unsuccessful last-ditch appeal, Palestine Action's proscription came into effect just after midnight on July 5, Reuters reported.

Proscription makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

Ammori's lawyer Raza Husain said Palestine Action is the first direct action group to be banned as a terror group, a move he argued was inconsistent with "the honorable history of civil disobedience on conscientious grounds in our country".

Dozens have been arrested for holding placards purportedly supporting the group since the ban and Ammori's lawyers say protesters expressing support for the Palestinian cause have also been subject to increased scrutiny from police officers.

Britain's interior minister Yvette Cooper, however, has said violence and criminal damage have no place in legitimate protest and that Palestine Action's activities – including breaking into a military base and damaging two planes – justify proscription.

Palestine Action has increasingly targeted Israel-linked companies in Britain, often spraying red paint, blocking entrances or damaging equipment.

The group accuses the British government of complicity in what it says are Israeli war crimes in its ongoing bombardment of Gaza.

Israel has repeatedly denied committing abuses in its war in Gaza, which began after Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.