44 electricity lines targeted by terrorists in past few days

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — At least 44 electricity pylons have been targets of terrorist attacks over the past few days, the spokesperson to Iraq’s Joint Operation Command told state media, adding that most of them have been repaired.

“There are around 44 to 45 transmission lines that have been targeted by terrorists in the past few days,” Major General Tahsin al-Khafaji told state media on Sunday. “Most of the targeted power lines have been repaired.”

Several attacks on electricity lines have been reported in the past few months, mostly in the disputed territories where ISIS has exploited a security vacuum.

One terrorist was killed by security forces in Diyala province as he was trying to blow up electricity pylons on Wednesday.

Earlier in June, the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity said that a major power line in Kirkuk governorate was out of service after an act of “sabotage” with an explosive device, detonating two nearby electricity pylons.

“The Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization seeks to create panic through targeting these power lines,” Khafaji said, adding that a joint operations cell between the security forces and the electricity ministry has been formed to set up strategies on how to protect those power lines, along with a joint force between the army, police, and the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF or Hashd al-Shaabi) formed to protect those towers.

In a statement released on Monday, the Ministry of Electricity announced that the transmission lines that supply power to the al-Karkh water project were targeted, indicating that ISIS attempted to cut off water supplies to nearby populations.

Earlier in June, a spokesperson from Iraq’s electricity ministry told Rudaw English that explosive devices have disrupted electricity lines in Mosul and Diyala, affecting areas across the country, including the capital Baghdad.

The power outages caused by such attacks have exacerbated problems for civilians who are already dealing with soaring temperatures in a year of drought and water shortages

Iraq has long suffered from chronic outages and electricity shortages in a country where summer temperatures reach over 50 degrees Celsius. Such shortages have in past years been a rallying call for protesters, most notably in the summer of 2018.

Updated at 3:10 pm