SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi security forces foiled two attempted attacks on transmission towers in Saladin province on Friday, Iraq’s military said, as the country is suffering from electricity outage.
In a statement, Iraqi security media cell said the security forces defused an improvised explosive device (IED) and an explosive belt placed on the transmission towers in Tikrit city.
Separately, the security forces in Baiji district defused another explosive belt set to explode power towers in the district, the military said in a separate statement.
Militants said to be Islamic State (ISIS) remnants have increased attacks on transmission towers across Iraq amid a heat wave and electricity outage.
On Thursday, a police source said three power towers had been targeted by “terrorist groups” in Telol al-Baj district, south of Mosul.
Officials in Saladin governorate has said dozens of the towers had been attacked by ISIS militants or other groups in the past weeks, according to Shafaq News.
Last week, the militants exploded several other towers in Kirkuk province.
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.
Four southern provinces have been without electricity since Tuesday, including Basra – home to Iraq’s main port.
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.
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 Tuesday to cut supplies to its neighbor, saying the Iraqi electricity ministry owes it more than $6 billion in arrears.
