New Dellhi, Feb 25 (IANS): At least eight health workers -- including four women -- have been shot and killed in separate attacks by unidentified gunmen in Afghanistan's northern provinces of Kunduz and Takhar.

The workers were providing polio vaccinations, and the campaign has been stopped in these two provinces.

The United Nations has condemned the killing of eight polio vaccination workers in four locations in northern Afghanistan on Thursday.

This is the first such attack since the nationwide immunization campaign was resumed last November.

In the wake of the carnage, the UN immediately suspended the national polio vaccination campaign in Kunduz and Takhar provinces.

Meanwhile, the local officials in Kunduz confirmed that at least seven workers providing polio vaccinations were killed in three separate attacks by the unidentified gunmen in PD 1 and 2 of Kunduz's capital city as well as in Imam Sahib district, reported TOLO News.

"Today at 12.00 noon, in several parts of Kunduz, seven health workers in the polio campaign were killed," said Qari Obaidullah Abidi, a spokesman for the Kunduz security department.

According to Kunduz's department of security, two attackers have been detained.

The United Nations has condemned the killing of the eight polio vaccination workers in four locations in northern Afghanistan on Thursday. the first such attacks since nationwide immunization campaigns resumed last November.