Afghan authorities have blamed Taliban militants for spreading a rumor that a deadly virus is being transmitted via cell phones.
The rumor, which raced like wildfire among the country's estimated two million cellphone users, said that anyone answering calls from certain numbers or codes would contract a fatal disease.
"I find it necessary to assure the people that the rumor spreading around the city is absolute nonsense — it's baseless," interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told a news conference.
"It's the work of the enemy," said Bashary, using the government's usual term for Islamist insurgents led by the Taliban, adding that they were trying to cause panic in the war-weary nation.
"There are some numbers which contain the virus. As soon as you answer your phone blood comes out of your mouth, nose and ears and you die," said Kabul resident Mohammad Akter, who said he was told about the virus by a friend.
With more than 70 percent of Afghanistan's people receiving little or no education, rumors and superstitions have been used previously as political and military tools.
False claims that the Taliban were equipped with special weapons which made their opponents start laughing and drop their weapons spread fast in the early 1990s.
The interior ministry said it was investigating the source of the latest story.
Officials in neighboring Pakistan moved to calm similar fears in their own country the week before the scare in Afghanistan.
State media quoted the head of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority as saying that it was "scientifically and technically" not possible to transmit a virus to humans from a cellphone. (AFP
阿富汗當局已對塔利班激進分子散播謠言的行為提出譴責。謠傳某種致命病毒正透過手機四處傳播。
1. transmit v.i. /v.t.
傳播 (chuan2 bo1)，傳染 (chuan2 ran3)
例: Colds are transmited through hand to mouth contact.
(感冒會透過手口接觸傳染。)
2. fatal adj.
致命的 (zhi4 ming4 de5)
例: The actress was involved in a fatal car accident on Saturday.
(那名女星涉及週六一起致命車禍。)
3. insurgent n.
叛亂者 (pan4 luan4 zhe3)
例: The country is in chaos due to the actions of insurgents.
(叛軍的行動讓該國陷入一片混亂。)
4. superstition n.
迷信 (mi2 xin4)，盲目恐懼 (mang2 mu4 kong3 ju4)
例: One popular superstition in the UK is that walking under a ladder brings bad luck.
(從梯子下方走過會招來厄運是英國廣為流傳的迷信。)
用戶只要接聽某些門號或代碼的來電就會感染致命疾病，這個謠言如野火燎原般迅速在阿富汗約兩百萬名手機用戶間傳開。
內政部發言人則瑪賴?巴沙里在一場記者會上表示：「我發現有必要向民眾保證，這項傳遍喀布爾市的謠言根本就是胡說八道。」
巴沙里說：「那是敵人的傑作。」阿國政府慣稱塔利班領導的伊斯蘭叛軍為敵人。巴沙里還表示，他們試圖在厭戰的阿富汗境內引起恐慌。
從一位朋友那裡聽說病毒謠言的喀布爾居民穆罕默德?亞科特說：「部份門號含有這種病毒。只要你一接聽手機，口、鼻和耳朵馬上就會流血，然後死亡。」
七成以上的阿富汗民眾不是教育程度不高就是沒受過教育，因此各種謠言及迷信都曾淪為政治及軍事利用的工具。
一九九０年代初期，有關塔利班配擁某些特殊武器，能讓對手開始大笑並放下手中武器的不實傳言，也曾滿天亂飛。
內政部表示，已著手追查這個手機謠言的來源。
手機病毒恐慌籠罩阿富汗的前一週，鄰國巴基斯坦的官員也曾採取措施平息該國類似的憂慮。
國營媒體引述巴基斯坦電信管理局局長的話說，就「科學及技術面」來看，從手機散播病毒到人體根本就是天方夜譚。（法新社／翻譯：林倩如）
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