Twelve members protecting a group of workers giving out polio vaccines were killed on Saturday when militants detonated a bomb alongside the road, and then started shooting at the group for an hour.
Khan Faraz, an official in the Jamrud area of Khyber, said that when rescuers approached the scene, the militants opened fire on them as well, according to Reuters. A dozen people were taken to the hospital to be treated, but other died alongside the road waiting for help.
Pakistan is one of the last countries that polio still affects.
According to BBC News , Pakistan has seen violence against health workers, who are accused of helping the Western plot to sterilize Muslim children.
This isn’t the first time health workers have been killed by militants. In December, over 40 health workers were killed, and in another three were shot to death by a gunman in the city of Karachi.
No responsibility from any known groups has been claimed.