# 6813
On this first day of 2013, more horrendous news out of Pakistan, where last month 9 health care workers involved in a vaccination campaign were murdered (see Pakistan: Fresh Attacks On WHO/UNICEF Polio Workers).
Today, news that a doctor and six aid workers were ambushed and killed by unknown gunmen after leaving a children’s community center.
Although no one has claimed credit for today’s act, aid workers have been repeatedly targeted by religious and political groups in Pakistan for assassination, assault, and kidnapping.
Local Taliban leaders banned Polio immunization campaigns after the use of a sham vaccination campaign as a CIA cover in the pursuit of Osama Bin Laden (see Maryn McKenna’s Update: Pakistan, Polio, Fake Vaccines And The CIA).
Details are still emerging on today’s attack. So far, the reporting on today’s incident has come from Reuters.
Gunmen in Pakistan shoot dead 7 aid workers near capital
Tue, 1 Jan 2013 11:43 GMT
Source: reuters // Reuters
(Updates death toll, adds man was a doctor)
By Jibran Ahmad
PESHAWAR, Pakistan Jan 1 (Reuters) - Gunmen ambushed and shot dead six Pakistani women aid workers and a male doctor on Tuesday, police said.
Their vehicle was raked with gunfire as they returned home from work at a children's community centre run by Pakistani charity Ujala, or Light, said district police officer Abdur Rashid Khan. Their driver was seriously wounded in the attack.
