Saturday 12 November 2011

Resistance targets phone masts and hubs

 
RESISTANCE fighters in Afghanistan are declaring war on a key element in any system of oppression - its communciations system.

Reports The Guardian: "The Taliban began attacking transmission masts in 2007, but the damage was limited and the attacks were often aimed only at extorting money from companies.

"But since mid-summer attacks have soared, with up to 30 towers being destroyed or damaged in one 20-day period. Previously a loss of five would be considered a bad month.

"Insurgents have also become much more destructive. 'They used to just blow up our fuel tanks,' a senior executive of an Afghan telecoms company said. ''Now they put fuel inside the control room with all the equipment, absolutely destroying everything'.

"Some masts have even been blown completely out of the ground by insurgents wiring them up with huge quantities of explosives.

"And they have focused many attacks on critical hub relay towers, which has the effect of bringing down services in many other locations. In some cases entire provinces have lost all phone services for days on end."