A gunman or gunmen shot and killed up to 11 people this morning in two health clinics in Kano State in northern Nigeria. The shootings follow closely on the heels of the targeted killing of nine polio workers and other humanitarian workers in Pakistan in December and January. Several media reported that the victims were in Kano polio vaccinators as well and have speculated that the terrorist group Boko Haram is involved.
Details are murky, and it is unclear who and how many people were killed, said Oliver Rosenbauer, spokesperson of the Global Initiative to eradicate polio with headquarters in Geneva , Switzerland, the World health Organization (wHO), which is closely following events.
The picture that has emerged to date is that at 9:30 this morning, local time, one or more gunmen attacked two health clinics in quick succession. No one has claimed responsibility.
The government of Kano investigation and, as a precaution, he interrupted all immunization activities against polio that could be underway. WHO has also drawn its members polio field staff and asked them to work from home.
Nigeria is one of the three remaining countries, as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan, where polio remains endemic. The government and international agencies to the eradication initiative intensified campaigns there in recent months to eliminate the virus. As part of these efforts, vaccinators go door to door drops of oral polio vaccine to children. The latest campaign in Kano ended February 5, but sometimes the polio workers continue "mop up" activities for several days.
"Our sympathy goes to the victims and families," says Rosenbauer, who calls the "tragic" and "scandalous" events.
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