KHAAR, May 20: A member of the Levies force was killed in an armed attack on a polio vaccination team in the Bajaur tribal region on Monday.

According to a local official, the team was administrating anti-polio drops in Kalan village of Mamood area along the border with Afghanistan when militants opened fire on them from a nearby field.

This was the first such attack in the area.

“A Bajaur Levy soldier escorting the polio team was killed on the spot,” the official said, adding that eight suspected tribesmen had been taken into custody. An official at the tribal secretariat in Peshawar said the anti-polio campaign in the region would continue. “We are taking stock of the situation and will take further security measures to protect the polio teams,” he said.

A total of 682 teams – mobile, transit and fixed – were involved in administering anti-polio drops among over 223,500 children in Bajaur, the official said.

No woman is participating in the campaign because of security threats.