Gunmen killed three Afghan women involved in a nationwide polio immunisation programme yesterday, officials said, a day after authorities launched a new drive against the crippling disease. 

The three women were killed in two separate attacks in the eastern city of Jalalabad, officials said.

"They were all on duty going from house to house to vaccinate children," supervisor Wahidullah told AFP. A spokesman for the ministry of health said the vaccination drive had been temporarily suspended in Nangarhar.

Polio has been eradicated across the world apart from Afghanistan and Pakistan, where distrust of vaccines is rife. The Taliban and religious leaders often tell communities that vaccines are a Western conspiracy aimed at sterilising Muslim children, and a ploy to spy on militant activities.