Four new polio cases detected in Pakistan‎

A health official in Pakistan said on Saturday four new polio cases have been detected in the country, bringing the number of children affected by the crippling disease this year to 276.  Rana Mohammad Safdar, a senior official at the National Institute of Health in Islamabad, said the new cases were registered last week.  He said most of the cases came from the northwest, where local militants often target polio teams.  A new three-day vaccination campaign began on Monday to reach 35 million children across the country.  Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the only three countries in the world where polio remains endemic.  Militants oppose the campaign, alleging that western governments would use it to spy on insurgents after the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. (Source: AP)