One female polio worker died in the Pakistan city of Peshawar on Tuesday, after she was gunned down by two men, reported the Los Angeles Times.
This is the most recent attack in a series of stand offs against health workers that are vaccinating people in Pakistan, where polio still runs rampant.
The men opened fire on a team working to vaccinate children in the village of Kaga Wala, located in a region of Pakistan that sits on the edge of an unsettled tribal area.
According to local police officer Shafeeullah Khan, who spoke with the Los Angeles Times, one other member of the vaccination team was injured and in critical condition.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari released a statement after the shooting, saying: "the government will not permit militants to deprive our children of basic healthcare."
No one has come forward to assume responsibility for the attack, but some officials say they could be Taliban-related, as the area teeters on the border of a Taliban stronghold where previous assaults have taken place.
According to a Huffington Post article, a handful of Pakistani militant groups are against vaccinations that, they say, are actually Washington's efforts to spy on the tribal areas.
In March, around 240,000 children did not receive U.N.- funded vaccinations due to security concerns in Afghanistan border towns.
Now, government workers are trying to vaccinate safely, sending police officers along with the polio vaccination teams where they can.
Despite the police escorts, however, a number of vaccination team members have been killed and brutally injured in the past few months.
Health workers from Nigeria and Afghanistan-two other countries afflicted by large numbers of polio cases-have also been attacked by militant groups.
Violence aside, Pakistan has worked diligently to vaccinate as many people-children in particular-as possible from polio disease. In 2012, the rate of polio cases dipped from 173 the year before to 56.
