Security

Gunmen kill 3 female polio workers in Jalalabad

By Salaam Times and AFP

Relatives transport the body of a female polio worker who was fatally shot by gunmen in Jalalabad on March 30, one day after authorities launched a new drive against the crippling disease. [Noorullah Shirzada/AFP]

Relatives transport the body of a female polio worker who was fatally shot by gunmen in Jalalabad on March 30, one day after authorities launched a new drive against the crippling disease. [Noorullah Shirzada/AFP]

JALALABAD -- Gunmen killed three Afghan women involved in a nationwide polio immunisation programme Tuesday (March 30), officials said, a day after authorities launched a new drive against the crippling disease.

The three women were killed in two separate attacks in Jalalabad.

"They were all on duty going from house to house to vaccinate children," supervisor Wahidullah, who uses only one name, told AFP.

An official at the Nangarhar governor's office confirmed the incidents.

In this photograph taken on August 17, 2015, Afghan women wait so their children can receive a polio vaccination at a clinic on the outskirts of Jalalabad. [Noorullah Shirzada/AFP]

In this photograph taken on August 17, 2015, Afghan women wait so their children can receive a polio vaccination at a clinic on the outskirts of Jalalabad. [Noorullah Shirzada/AFP]

A relative of one of the victims said his niece had joined the immunisation programme to earn some money for her family.

"Gunmen shot her dead this morning when she was on duty giving vaccines to children," said Haji Maqbool.

Three gunmen followed the other two workers before shooting them, said farmer Saifullah, who witnessed the pair's slaying.

"The girls had stopped in front of a house and were knocking on the door. They were carrying a medical box and some papers," he said.

"The gunmen then came closer and shot the girls before fleeing."

The vaccination drive has been temporarily suspended in Nangarhar, said a spokesman for the Health Ministry.

The top US envoy to Kabul, Ross Wilson, condemned the killings.

"Such attacks are a direct affront to Afghans' dream of building a better life for their children," he said on Twitter.

"Attacking vaccinators is as heartless as it is inexplicable."

Rise in polio cases

Polio has been eradicated across the world apart from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Taliban will not allow door-to-door campaigns in areas they control, say officials, who blame the militants for a rise in cases.

Last year, the Taliban obstructed door-to-door polio vaccination in some districts in the western region, and as a result, eight children were infected, Dr. Abdul Wahid Rahmani, who heads the National Polio Vaccination Programme in the western zone, said in January.

"Currently we have eight positive polio cases in the western region: two in Herat province, two in Badghis province, and four in Farah province," Rahmani said at the time.

"With deteriorating security and the Taliban's 'ban' on the door-to-door polio vaccination campaign in some districts, the number of positive polio cases in western provinces is increasing," he added.

Even though polio immunisation is compulsory in Afghanistan, the Taliban often tell communities that vaccines are a Western conspiracy aimed at sterilising Muslim children and claim that immunisation drives are used for spying on militant activities.

The attack on the three polio workers comes amid a surge in violence across Afghanistan and despite peace talks launched between the Taliban and government last year.

A wave of assassinations of high profile Afghans including journalists, activists and civil servants has particularly triggered fear across the country.

Officials have blamed the Taliban for much of the violence.

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What kind of government is it as it cannot take security of its citizens? Every day mine explosion, killing of the civilians, women, journalists and religious scholars. The government has four hundred thousand security and defense forces, but it cannot ensure security of its cities. Taliban government did not have 50,000 forces in total, but it was safe and secure throughout Afghanistan. The reason was that they dealt seriously with the criminals and offenders and did not put the murderer in prison, but executed him in public so that it would be example to others. They caught the thief and cut off his hand. Security will not come in Afghanistan unless a serious and Islamic government is formed. This democracy does not work in this country. Even the kingdom of Zahir Shah was far better than this system. I wish the monarchy in Afghanistan would not have been destroyed. They say that during the era of His Excellency Zahir Shah, the former king of Afghanistan, if someone was killed in a village, all the people of that village would be summoned by the government and imprisoned. It would not release them until the killer would not be identified. In Afghanistan, such a system works. Today, I saw the dead bodies of these oppressed women who were killed, and I became very sad. May God have mercy on the poor people of Afghanistan.

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It is very deplorable that every day the poor and needy people of Afghanistan are killed and cruelty is committed against them. It's really a painful incident. I offer my condolences to the families of these oppressed women, and I wish the martyrs paradise from Almighty God.

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Those who have committed this horrible crime are not Muslims. They killed the most harmless creatures. You know that people, who walk from house to house to implement vaccine, do so for a very small amount of money, and most of them do so out of compulsion. If they are not in need, by God they will not do this job, because women in Afghanistan are not allowed to go out of their homes. Their families might have been obliged that they allowed these oppressed women to do so in order to earn some money. Death to those who committed such a great cruelty. May God destroy them. We strongly urge the authorities of Nangarhar province to arrest perpetrators of this criminal case and give them capital punishment so that criminals do not commit such atrocity in the future.

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