Unidentified perpetrators fired the fatal shots in Jamrud in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa near the border with Afghanistan.
A few hours after the deed, the Pakistani Taliban movement took responsibility for the murder. In a statement, the hardline group claimed that it had also "seized" the deceased police officer's weapons.
Thousands of police officers have been sent out to protect healthcare personnel who are now going door-to-door to vaccinate children against polio in the area.
It is not uncommon for healthcare workers in Afghanistan and Pakistan to be attacked, as there is widespread suspicion towards vaccinations in conservative circles. This may be due to the fact that the American CIA used a vaccination campaign as a cover when identifying the location of terrorist leader Usama bin Ladin's residence in Pakistan before he was killed.
