SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Two other power transmission towers were blown up in the Iraqi province of Diyala, Iraqi media reported on Monday.
A local source said unidentified gunmen detonated two transmission towers with improvised explosive devices near the village of Wandiya al-Kabirah in northeast of Baquba.
The explosion “led to significant damage to the towers and power outage in most of the areas in the province,” the source told National Iraqi news agency NINA.
On Sunday, the security forces thwarted attempted attacks on two other power towers in Hit district in Anbar province, the Iraqi military said.
No groups have claimed responsibility for attacks on the power towers.
But Iraqi authorities accuse Islamic State (ISIS) militants of targeting the country’s power towers in several provinces.
The explosion of towers comes as Iraq is struggling with electricity outage in several provinces in central and south of the country.
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.
Iraqis blame a government which relies on energy imports from Iran and which they say has failed to develop Iraq’s own grid to serve its population. Iraq’s electricity minister resigned this week under pressure over the power crisis, local media reported.
Reduced power supplies from Iran this month and a series of attacks on power lines by militants have compounded the electricity crisis.
Iraq – the second largest producer in the OPEC oil cartel – buys gas and power from neighboring Iran to supply about a third of its power sector, dilapidated by decades of conflict and poor maintenance.
But Iran decided to cut supplies to its neighbor, saying the Iraqi electricity ministry owes it more than $6 billion in arrears.
