Pakistan tribal elders in talks to free polio workers

Tribal elders in Pakistan's north-western Khyber region are reportedly negotiating with suspected militants to release kidnapped polio workers. The workers, said to be four teachers involved in a polio vaccination scheme for schoolchildren, were taken from a school in the Bara area. Polio vaccination workers are often targeted for kidnap by militants, accused of being Western spies or part of a plot to sterilise Muslims. Polio remains endemic in Pakistan. This is partly due to militant resistance to polio vaccination campaigns, say correspondents. A senior government official in Bara told the AFP news agency that the group behind the kidnappings was Lashkar-e-Islam. "Tribal jirga has started negotiations with Lashkar-e-Islam people," the official said. "We are hopeful for the early release of polio workers."