March 20, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 11, 1429

KANDAHAR, March 19: Militants attacked and destroyed another cell phone antenna in southern Afghanistan overnight, police said on Wednesday as residents complained that mobile signals were dead at night.

Insurgents on motorbikes stormed a mast in the southern city of Kandahar, beating and tying up the guards and setting fire to equipment, a district police commander named Ehsanullah said.

Rebels have attacked about a dozen mobile phone masts in southern Afghanistan since the Taliban militia threatened last month to target the equipment unless it was turned off at night.

The Taliban have alleged the equipment is used by the military to trace their hideouts.

The Afghan ministry of telecommunications said mobile phone companies had pledged not to turn off their signals at night. The services are vital in a country where the landline system is extremely poor.

“We have commitment from companies that they will not switch off their services. Only in areas where their antennas are damaged there might be temporary cut in services,” said ministry spokesman Abdul Hadi Hadi.

But residents of several southern provinces said they could not make calls after dark and the head of one cell phone company in Kandahar said on condition of anonymity that reception was switched off at night.

The company could not be reached for confirmation.—AFP