Nine killed in Pakistan bombing targeting polio vaccination drive

Nine killed in Pakistan bombing targeting polio vaccination drive

Event date: 2024-11-01. A bombing near a girls’ school in Mastung, Balochistan, killed at least nine people, including five schoolchildren, and injured 23 others as police guarded a polio vaccination drive. The attack added another violent chapter to Pakistan’s struggle to protect public health campaigns from militant violence.

The evidence packet says the target was a police van heading to collect a polio vaccination team. Senior Superintendent of Police Rahmat Ullah told Reuters that the van was on its way when the blast happened. The explosion was believed to have been caused by an improvised device attached to a motorcycle parked near the school. Two men later died in hospital from critical injuries, bringing the death toll to nine.

The victims included children, a police officer and a passerby. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi called targeting children an act of brutality. No group immediately claimed responsibility. The packet says Islamabad has often blamed the Taliban government in Afghanistan for allowing attacks across the border, but that no proof of responsibility had been established for this case.

The bombing happened during Pakistan’s third nationwide polio campaign of the year. The drive aimed to vaccinate 45 million children under five across 71 districts in response to a rise in polio cases. The packet says Pakistan had recorded 41 cases that year, mostly in Balochistan and Sindh, after the number had fallen to six in 2023 from 20 in 2022. Pakistan and Afghanistan remained the only countries where polio was endemic.

The attack also fits a longer pattern. Armed groups have repeatedly targeted vaccination teams, spreading false conspiracy theories that the shots are part of a sterilisation programme. The packet says Pakistan was already facing a surge in deadly attacks in its northwest and a separatist movement in the south, with the Balochistan Liberation Army the most active group in the province.

What makes the Mastung bombing particularly stark is that it did not target a remote convoy or an isolated checkpoint. It struck near a school and alongside a public health operation aimed at children. In a country trying to keep polio at bay, the violence turned a vaccination drive into another scene of mass casualty and fear.

The Mastung bombing also showed how attacks on health campaigns can ripple beyond the immediate casualties. A single blast killed children, police and bystanders, but it also threatened confidence in a vaccination drive meant to reach millions of children. In a country where polio is still endemic, violence against the campaign makes eradication efforts harder and keeps public health workers exposed to the same risks.

The attack is also part of a broader security problem in Balochistan, where separatist violence and attacks on state personnel have repeatedly interrupted daily life. But the location near a girls’ school and the timing during a public health drive made the blast especially destructive. It turned a routine vaccination escort into a mass-casualty scene and a warning for future campaigns.