Policeman guarding polio workers killed in Pak blast

The incident happened near a CNG station on the outskirts of Peshawar, officials of a rescue service said. One policeman was killed and the injured was taken to a nearby hospital. According to Superintendent of Police (Rural) Rahim Shah, the bomb was planted near a post of the 'Sehat Ka Insaf' programme.

The programme has replaced polio campaigns. Instead of running a polio-specific drive, health workers are now targeting nine vaccine-preventable diseases, including polio. Bomb Disposal Squad officials said two kilogrammes of explosives were used in the attack.

No group claimed responsibility for the blast though such attacks are usually blamed on the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, which has banned polio vaccinations in the tribal belt till the US stops its drone strikes.

The Taliban ban has left thousands of children vulnerable to polio even as Pakistan remains one of only three countries where the disease in endemic. Dozens of health workers and policemen have died in attacks on polio vaccination teams in the country's northwest and Karachi in recent years.