Afghan group rejects murdering polio vaccinators
Categories: FOREIGN COUNTRIES
An Afghan group opposed to Taliban rule rejected on Sunday the police's accusation that its members had killed polio vaccinators on a campaign to eradicate the crippling virus.Police had said two members of the National Resistance Front (NRF) had been arrested in connection with killing seven vaccinators on February 24 in the northern province of Kunduz.The NRF were the last group to hold out against the Taliban takeover last year, retreating to the Panjshir Valley, which eventually fell in September, weeks after the former government forces capitulated. The health workers were killed in separate attacks while on a house-to-house vaccine campaign."The National Resistance Front condemns the perpetrators of this attack and we strongly believe it was conducted by the Taliban or one of their terrorist partners," Ali Nazary, spokesman for the NRF, told AFP.The NRF is led by the son of legendary late anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was assassinated by Al-Qaeda in 2001. In total, eight polio vaccinators were killed on February 24 -- seven in Kunduz and one in the neighbouring province of Takhar.Polio teams in Afghanistan were frequently targeted by insurgent groups until the Taliban's takeover in August.Since then, the hardline Islamists have said they want to work with the United Nations to stamp out the disease.