1st LD: 7 policemen escorting polio-eradication team killed in Pakistan

At least seven policemen, deployed to guard polio-eradication teams, were killed and three others injured when gunmen opened fire at them in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi on Wednesday, officials said.

Feroze Shah, deputy Inspector General Police, said the policemen were escorting teams who were giving polio vaccines to children in Orangi Town of Karachi, the capital city of the country's south Sindh province.

He said the attackers first gunned down three policemen who were on the foot and then opened indiscriminate firing at a police mobile, killing four cops and injuring three others.

No polio worker was killed or injured in the drive-by shooting by four militants on two motorbikes.

The attackers fled the scene, and the police have launched a search operation in the area.

The injured were rushed to a hospital where the medico-legal officer said they were in critical condition.

The three-day polio eradication drive, which started on Monday, was suspended following the incident.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the attack and directed hospital authorities to provide best possible medical treatment to the injured people.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where polio virus could not be eradicated yet.

The polio-eradication campaigns in the country have been badly affected by the militants who launch attack on polio teams and threaten parents against allowing health workers to administer polio vaccine to their kids.

An estimated 80 workers have been killed in separate attacks by militants on polio teams since December 2012. Enditem