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Asiacell's Towers and Staff Struck by Terrorist Attack
Iraqi mobile network operator, Asiacell was struck last Sunday by a terrorist attack in the province of Kirkuk which targeted the company's towers and personnel. The company said that one of their security guards was killed as a result of the attack, while another suffered serious injury.
According to Asiacell, the attack was carried out by a group of anonymous assailants near the village of Abeid, which lies 3 kilometers away from the company's towers southwest of Kirkuk.
This is one of several attacks waged against the company. The company was recently targeted by a variety of similar attacks in other provinces, such as the bombing of the company's customer service center in Mosul and several of its offices in Baghdad, the arson attack of the company's warehouses in Tikrit, and the destruction of the company's headquarters in Mosul.
"It is indeed unfortunate that the wave of attack against Iraq's larger companies - and Asiacell in particular, continues to be carried out by groups who seek to unsettle security and mar our national unity," said Asiacell's CEO Dr. Diar Ahmad. "I still fail to understand what these individuals gain by slaughtering innocent civilians who are guilty of nothing but undertaking their responsibilities with loyalty to Iraq first and the company second."
The company had released a statement saying services in the province of Kirkuk might be temporarily compromised due to the attack, asking patience of their subscribers in the province as efforts to undo the damage are currently underway.
Dr. Ahmad reiterated that company's operations in Iraq will continue in spite of the escalating violence against its staff, emphasizing that the violence, or the threat of violence, will not deter the company's duty of offering reliable means of communication to every Iraqi.
Posted to the site on 23rd March 2009