Residents told Pajhwok Afghan News the militants were also taking the wheat distributed to them a month back. A group of 10 fighters snatched voter registration cards from dwellers of Maryan village last night, said Gul Zaman.

He claimed the Taliban had collected the cards -- issued in 2004 and this year -- from inhabitants of all villages in the district. The villagers were threatened with dire consequences if they did not surrender the cards, Zaman added.

The cards grabbed would be set on fire, the Taliban were quoted as saying by the resident.

"Although our village is very small, more than a hundred voter registration cards were collected from its inhabitants," he said.

A man from Latif village also complained that thousands of cards were seized from them over the past few days. At the same time, Muhammad Anwar said, the guerrillas warned the villagers against participating in the elections.

The Taliban reportedly told villagers all roads in the district would be closed and mined three days ahead of the polls. Additionally, they said, the bazaars would stay shut and the people should not venture out of their homes in the interest of their personal security.

Although several officials said they were unaware, the Gilan district chief admitted the anti-government movement was using every trick in the book to make its presence felt. Mahboobullah Sabawoon acknowledged there were militant threats that might have created problems for residents.

However, Sabawoon had no information that the Taliban had taken the wheat distributed to deserving families. No one had so far approached him with such a complaint, he said.

Haji Taj Muhammad Musa, a provincial council member from Gilan, also confirmed the snatching of thousands of voter registration cards by the Taliban during the last couple of days alone.

Running for Thursday's polls, Musa verified the Taliban's threat to kill the people taking part in the elections. He said all major routes had been blocked and there was little poll-related activity in the district -- a Taliban stronghold. Polls in these circumstances would be a farcical exercise, the candidate said.

The Taliban in Gilan, meanwhile, has not given any information to journalists about this.

The district is located on the Kabul-Kandahar Highway, about 100 kilometres southwest of the provincial capital. Gilan borders Shahjoy district of the neighbouring Zabul province.

mud/ls