Mobile phone towers blown up

GHAZNI CITY (PAN): Militants blew up two towers of private mobile-phone companies in southern Ghazni and southeastern Paktia provinces, officials said on Sunday.

Armed men blew up a booster belonging to Roshan telecommunication company in Rawza village on the outskirts of Ghazni City, the provincial police chief, Col. Zarawar Zahid, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Bombs were also planted at the towers of Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC), Mobile Telecommunication Network (MTN) and Etisalat company, but had not exploded yet, he said.

They have asked for assistance from the NATO) to defuse the bombs, but no one had reached the scene as of 12:00 this afternoon, he said.

No suspects were detained in connection with the incident, but police have launched an investigation, he said.

The Roshan tower was the fifth mobile phone tower to be destroyed in the last 20 days in Ghazni province.

Separately, another mobile tower of MTN was torched on Saturday evening in Jungikhel village of Ahmadabad district of Paktia province, the district chief, Ihsan-ul-Haq, said.

The attackers had already fled when the police arrived, he said.

Militants torched the tower around 8pm, a local witness, Abdullah, said.

Since last week, the Taliban have shut down all the private mobile companies in Paktia province, creating a difficult situation for the people in the area.

myn/at

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