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Militants torch telecom towers in southern Afghanistan

KABUL, March 2 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Taliban militants have burned two telecom towers in southern Afghanistan after they warned mobile phone companies to shut down their signals at night or face attacks, police said Sunday.

Taliban militants warned the Afghan mobile phone companies last week that their towers and offices will be blown up if the companies do not halt phone signals for 10 hours each night.

The militants’ purported spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said the U.S. and NATO military forces were using mobile signals to track down Taliban fighters and then launch attacks against their hideouts.

“The militants torched a mobile phone tower belonging to Roshan, in the outskirts of Kandahar City,” Nahimullah, a local police officer, said.

The militants also burned a generator and office equipment of the company, he added.

The attack came two days after the militants destroyed a telecom tower belonging to Areeba in the Zherai district of Kandahar Province after their deadline to shut down all telephone signals from dusk to dawn expired Friday.

There are four mobile phone companies in the country that cover almost all corners of poverty-stricken Afghanistan.

They have more than three million subscribers and are the most profitable foreign investments since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8V57UJ81&show_article=1&catnum=0

Afghan, Coalition Forces Disrupt Taliban Networks

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 2, 2008 – Several insurgents were killed and 14 suspected insurgents were detained during coalition forces operations conducted yesterday and Feb. 29 to degrade Taliban leadership networks in Afghanistan.

Coalition forces searched compounds in the Garmsir district of Helmand province yesterday during an operation targeting a Taliban commander responsible for facilitating foreign fighters and weapons smuggling operations. Several insurgents were killed when they fired on coalition forces. Coalition forces found and detained four individuals with suspected links to Taliban networks as they continued their search.

Coalition forces also recovered several weapons, ammunition vests and hand grenades that were destroyed to prevent further use by militant forces.

During a separate operation in the Qalat district of Zabul province yesterday, coalition forces detained four individuals associated with a Taliban commander responsible for attacks along Highway One. One of the detainees also is associated with Taliban and foreign fighter facilitation operations, officials said.

Afghan National Security and coalition forces detained six suspected insurgents Feb. 29 during a joint operation targeting a Taliban commander with ties to Taliban support networks and weapons operations in the Deh Chopan district of Zabul province.

The detainees from the operations will be questioned on their involvement in Taliban operations as well as other extremist activities.

“Coalition forces operations to degrade the Taliban’s leadership are bolstering ongoing efforts to solidify the stability and security of Afghanistan,” said Army Maj. Chris Belcher, a coalition forces spokesman.

(Compiled from Combined Joint Task Force 82 news releases.)

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http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49137