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Eight polio vaccinators killed in series of Afghan attacks: UN

Eight polio vaccinators killed in series of Afghan attacks: UN

Afghanistan Polio vaccinators

Eightmembers ofpoliovaccination teams working to eradicate the crippling virus in Afghanistan werekilledon Thursday in four separateattacks, the United Nations said.

Polioteams were frequently targeted by insurgent groups in Afghanistan until the Taliban's takeover of the country last year, when the hardline Islamist group said it wanted to work with theUNto stamp out the disease.

In the pastpoliocampaigns in Afghanistan -- and neighbouring Pakistan -- were accused of being fronts for spying, while some clerics said the vaccine was a conspiracy to sterilise Muslims.

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"We are appalledby the brutality of thesekillings, across four separate locations," theUNsaid in a statement.

"This senseless violence must stop immediately, and those responsible must be investigated and brought to justice. Theseattacksare a violation of international humanitarian law."

The Taliban said they had "received the news" of the incidents and were trying to get more information.

"Our policy is clear, we want to vaccinate and protect all the children in Afghanistan under the age of five," Javid Hajir, a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, told AFP.

TheUNsaid one person waskilledin Takhar province in the far north, and seven in neighbouring Kunduz province -- including four in the provincial capital Kunduz city.

They were engaged in house-to-house visits or on their way to begin campaigns, theUNsaid.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries in the world wherepoliohas not been eradicated, although Pakistan last month reported a year without a case for the first time in history.