Deadly Bombing of Polio Clinic Points to CIA's Chilling Legacy
At least 15 people were killed and 25 wounded in Wednesday's bomb blast in southwestern Pakistan
Jan 13, 2016
At least 15 people were killed and 25 wounded on Wednesday when a bomb blast targeted a polio eradication center in the city of Quetta, located in southwestern Pakistan.
The bomb reportedly hit a police van that was accompanying health workers in a drive aimed at immunizing young children.
"The police team had arrived to escort teams for the polio campaign," Ahsan Mehboob, the provincial police chief, told Reuters. He added, "It was a suicide blast, we have gathered evidence from the scene."
According to Reuters, two groups claimed responsibility: the Pakistani Taliban and Jundullah, which has ties to the Taliban.
The bombing is the latest deadly attack to target polio facilities and workers, who have fallen under greater distrust after the CIA orchestrated a fake vaccination drive in 2011 as part of the hunt for Osama Bin Ladin.
A spokesperson for Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign affairs last year criticized the CIA's ruse for undermining efforts to eradicate polio, arguing that it "further reinforced the negative perception about the agenda behind the polio eradication campaign."
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two remaining countries in the world where polio continues to be transmitted.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
At least 15 people were killed and 25 wounded on Wednesday when a bomb blast targeted a polio eradication center in the city of Quetta, located in southwestern Pakistan.
The bomb reportedly hit a police van that was accompanying health workers in a drive aimed at immunizing young children.
"The police team had arrived to escort teams for the polio campaign," Ahsan Mehboob, the provincial police chief, told Reuters. He added, "It was a suicide blast, we have gathered evidence from the scene."
According to Reuters, two groups claimed responsibility: the Pakistani Taliban and Jundullah, which has ties to the Taliban.
The bombing is the latest deadly attack to target polio facilities and workers, who have fallen under greater distrust after the CIA orchestrated a fake vaccination drive in 2011 as part of the hunt for Osama Bin Ladin.
A spokesperson for Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign affairs last year criticized the CIA's ruse for undermining efforts to eradicate polio, arguing that it "further reinforced the negative perception about the agenda behind the polio eradication campaign."
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two remaining countries in the world where polio continues to be transmitted.
Sarah Lazare
Sarah Lazare is the editor of Workday Magazine and a contributing editor for In These Times. She is a former Staff Writer at Common Dreams. She comes from a background in independent journalism for publications including The Intercept, The Nation, and Tom Dispatch.
At least 15 people were killed and 25 wounded on Wednesday when a bomb blast targeted a polio eradication center in the city of Quetta, located in southwestern Pakistan.
The bomb reportedly hit a police van that was accompanying health workers in a drive aimed at immunizing young children.
"The police team had arrived to escort teams for the polio campaign," Ahsan Mehboob, the provincial police chief, told Reuters. He added, "It was a suicide blast, we have gathered evidence from the scene."
According to Reuters, two groups claimed responsibility: the Pakistani Taliban and Jundullah, which has ties to the Taliban.
The bombing is the latest deadly attack to target polio facilities and workers, who have fallen under greater distrust after the CIA orchestrated a fake vaccination drive in 2011 as part of the hunt for Osama Bin Ladin.
A spokesperson for Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign affairs last year criticized the CIA's ruse for undermining efforts to eradicate polio, arguing that it "further reinforced the negative perception about the agenda behind the polio eradication campaign."
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two remaining countries in the world where polio continues to be transmitted.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.