Unicef, WHO suspend Pakistan polio work after gun attacks

ISLAMABAD (AFP, REUTERS) - The UN children's agency Unicef and the World Health Organisation (WHO) suspended work on campaigns against polio in Pakistan on Wednesday after a series of attacks left nine health workers dead in three days.

Unicef spokesman Michael Coleman told AFP the two organisations halted polio work in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces on Tuesday after attacks in Karachi and Peshawar, but extended the suspension nationwide after fresh bloodshed on Wednesday.

Three workers were shot and two of them were killed, a day after five workers were shot dead in planned attacks around the country.

Following the violence, the United Nations in Pakistan has pulled all staff involved in the immunization campaign off the streets, spokesman Michael Coleman said.