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IRAQ-CONFLICT-JIHADISTS-ELECTRICITY
Iraq says jihadists repeatedly hit power line
BAGHDAD, Aug 5, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Jihadists have attacked a high voltage
power line serving several Iraqi provinces for the eighth time in two months,
the government said on Sunday.
The electricity ministry said it had to once again repair the 400 kilovolt
line between Kirkuk and Diyala after “terrorist attacks of sabotage… which
caused the line to cut” on Thursday.
The damage was “the eighth attack on this line in two months”, the ministry
said in a statement, plunging Kirkuk, Salaheddin and Nineveh provinces into
darkness.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared “victory” in the fight against the
Islamic State group in December, after the jihadists had seized nearly a
third of the country’s territory in 2014.
But IS pockets remain, including in the mountains around Kirkuk.
The damage to the line between Kirkuk and Diyala has now been repaired and
power restored to residents, a source in the electricity ministry told AFP on
Sunday.
Iraq is grappling with severe power cuts, due mainly to a dilapidated grid
infrastructure that has suffered years of neglect.
The shortages have fed into protests over the last month, as residents
contend with summer heat reaching 50 degrees Celsius (120 Fahrenheit).
Abadi fired electricity minister Qasim al-Fahdawi on July 29 in a bid to
quell the protests, which originated in Basra in the oil-rich south and
spread to several other cities including Baghdad.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1620 hrs