SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Militants continued to attack transmission towers and lines across Iraq, in a wave of attacks that cut power to several cities and towns.
The Iraqi ministry of electricity said militants had exploded a transmission tower in Tarmiya area in Saladin province, north of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.
The tower supplies power to Karkh water project, the ministry added, stating that the aim of the attack was to “cut off the supply of drinking water to citizens”.
“Violence continues to negatively affect the power infrastructure and expose it to great losses, depriving civilians of energy and isolating regions and provinces from each other,” the ministry said in a statement.
The Joint Operations Command said on Sunday that around 45 towers had been targeted by “terrorists” in the past days.
On Saturday, Iraqi security media cell said seven people had been killed and 11 had been wounded in recent attacks on the transmission towers in the country.
As many as 61 transmission towers had been damaged in the attacks, it added.
No groups have claimed responsibility for attacks on the power towers.
But Iraqi authorities accuse Islamic State (ISIS) and other militant groups of targeting the country’s power towers in several provinces.
Commander of Saladin Operations Major General Abdul Mohsen Hatim said the security forces had began joint patrols with Hashid al-Shaabi to protect the towers in the province, according to state news agency (INA).
“There is no information that political parties are behind targeting the towers,” he added, in response to claims that some parties were behind the attacks.
Iraqi Minister of Interior Othman Ghanmi on Sunday ordered authorities to intensify efforts to protect the towers.
Earlier on Monday, a high-level security delegation arrived in Nineveh province to overlook the security situation and to implement plans to protect power towers, according to Iraqi media.
A source at the Iraqi interior ministry had said there were nearly 50,000 power towers across Iraq and that 10 guards were needed to protect each tower.
“It means half of the Iraqi military will be needed to protect the power towers,” the source added.
In response to the source’ statement, Iraqi observer Saadun Jumaa said the explosion of the towers was more political than being a security problem.
“The issue is political, not security, just like attacks on civil activists in the past three years,” Jumaa added.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi said last week that the hours of power supply had reduced due to “repeated and intentional targeting of electrical towers in a number of provinces”.
In an attempt to limit the targeting of energy towers, the federal government has decided to use drones to protect the towers and identify the parties behind the attacks.
The explosion of towers comes as Iraq is struggling with electricity outage in several provinces in central and south of the country.
Power went out completely across most of the country’s provinces before dawn, residents said, in some of the worst shortages this year. Some main grid electricity had returned to Baghdad by the afternoon.
The electricity ministry said the blackouts, which started in the south before spreading to the rest of the country, were caused by unexplained attacks on power lines.
“Someone is trying to destabilize the country and sow chaos,” ministry spokesman Ahmad Moussa said on television, without giving further details.
Iraqi analyst Zakwan Sharif has said the militants targeting the towers were working as “small independence cells”, who are spread across Iraq.
“Those cells are managed by a specific party which benefits from the existence of shortages of power in Iraq,” he added.
“This is a reality which the government does not want to admit.”
Power from Iraq’s main grid suffers year-round from hours-long cuts each day, but the shortages worsen during the hot summer months when temperatures regularly reach 50 degrees and households rely on air conditioning.
