Posted on 04/03/2016 8:05:43 AM PDT by huldah1776
KABUL: An official says gunmen have kidnapped 11 land mine clearers in western Afghanistan.
Rauf Ahmadi, the spokesman for the police chief of the western Herat province, said on Saturday that a military operation has been launched in the area, with six suspects detained. He says tribal elders had earlier tried negotiating the de-miners’ release.
He says all 11 were Afghans employed by the HALO Trust mine clearing organisation. They were abducted on Friday.
Abduction for ransom is widespread in lawless Afghanistan, and de-miners are soft targets as they usually work in remote regions.
After almost 40 years of war, Afghanistan is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.
Separately, Afghanistan’s Taliban guerrillas developed an online application for Android smartphones, signaling the militant group is becoming more adept at using Internet and wireless technologies to increase visibility.
The launch of the app was reported by the US-based SITE Intel Group, which monitors extremist social media, on Friday.
The Pashto language app includes content such as official statements and videos from the Taliban, which has sought insurgency in the country for more than 14 years since it was ousted in 2001 with help from the US. The app can be downloaded from Google’s Play Store.
The app adds to the Taliban’s digital campaign to attract more audience worldwide.
The movement has an updated Website run in five languages including English and Arabic, as well as Twitter and Facebook accounts providing daily reports on its insurgency.
At least the tally-bunnies have been skert away for those evil iPhones to google spyware laden Androids!
“landmine clearers abducted in Afghanistan”
As if that job didn’t suck enough already.
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