Taliban threaten to blow up Ghazni dam

GHAZNI CITY (PAN have threatened to blow up the Band-i-Sultan dam in southern Ghazni province if two drowned fighters were not found, officials said on Monday.

Deputy Governor Mohammad Ali Ahmadi told Pajhwok Afghan News the Taliban had asked security guards to open the dam gates; otherwise they would blow them out with bombs.

He said the dam’s two gates had been opened and half of the water had flowed out, but the bodies of the insurgents were yet to be found.

Ahmadi said the Taliban had threatened to destroy the dam if their colleagues’ corpses were not fished out until the afternoon.

But Water Management Director Eng. Shafique said the Taliban had forcibly opened two gates of the dam, ordering all water released.

He said the two men were taking a bath when they drowned in the dam, located 22 kilometres north of Ghazni City between Jaghatu district of Maidan Wardak and Khwaja Omari district of Ghazni.

ma/mud

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