BAGHDAD: Militants 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 Abadi declared “victory” in the fight against Daesh in December, after the militants had seized nearly a third of the country’s territory in 2014.
But Daesh 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 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.
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.
Separately on Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara is again to open a consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, four years after it was seized and its employees held hostage by Daesh terrorists.
Ankara had opened a well-staffed consulate in Mosul, in a sign of Turkey’s ambitions in northern Iraq, before the rise of Daesh there and in neighboring Syria.
But 46 Turks, including diplomats, their children, special forces officers and other Turkish employees were taken hostage by the militants in June 2014. The hostages were freed in September 2014 after a three-month ordeal.
Symbolically, the consulate building was destroyed in a US-led coalition airstrike in April 2016 carried out in coordination with Ankara. The city was retaken by Iraqi forces in June 2017.
“The consulates general in Mosul and of Basra will resume operations within 100 days,” Erdogan told a meeting on government plans after his June 24 election victory.
Iraqi militants repeatedly hit major electricity line
Iraqi militants repeatedly hit major electricity line
- Iraq is grappling with severe power cuts, due mainly to a dilapidated grid infrastructure that has suffered years of neglect
- The damage to the line between Kirkuk and Diyala has now been repaired and power restored to residents
Ceasefire with Kurdish-led force extended for another 15 days, Syrian army says
- The defense ministry said the extension was in support of an operation by US forces to transfer accused Daesh militants to Iraq
- The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces confirmed the ceasefire extension
RAQQA, Syria: Hours after the expiration of a four-day truce between the Syrian government and Kurdish-led fighters Saturday, Syria’s defense ministry announced the ceasefire had been extended by another 15 days.
The defense ministry said in a statement that the extension was in support of an operation by US forces to transfer accused Daesh militants who had been held in prisons in northeastern Syria to detention centers in Iraq.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces confirmed the ceasefire extension.
“Our forces affirm their commitment to the agreement and their dedication to respecting it, which contributes to de-escalation, the protection of civilians, and the creation of the necessary conditions for stability,” the group said in a statement.
Over the past three weeks, there have been intense clashes between government forces and the SDF, in which the SDF lost large parts of the area they once controlled.
Earlier in the day, the Kurdish-led force called on the international community to prevent any escalation.
The end of the truce came as government forces have been sending reinforcements to Syria’s northeast.
Syria’s interim government signed an agreement last March with the SDF for it to hand over territory and to eventually merge its fighters with government forces. In early January, a new round of talks failed to make progress over the merger, leading to renewed fighting between the two sides.
A new version of the accord was signed last weekend, and a four-day ceasefire was declared Tuesday. Part of the new deal is that SDF members will have to merge into the army and police forces as individuals.
The SDF said in a statement Saturday that military buildups and logistical movements by government forces have been observed, “clearly indicating an intent to escalate and push the region toward a new confrontation.” The SDF said it will continue to abide by the truce.
On Saturday, state TV said authorities on Saturday released 126 boys under the age of 18 who were held at the Al-Aqtan prison near the northern city of Raqqa that was taken by government forces Friday. The teenagers were taken to the city of Raqqa where they were handed over to their families, the TV station said.
The prison is also home to some of the 9,000 members of the Daesh group who are held in northeastern Syria. Most of them remain held in jails run by the SDF. Government forces have so far taken control of two prisons while the rest are still run by the SDF.
Earlier this week, the US military said that some 7,000 Daesh detainees will be transferred to detention centers in neighboring Iraq.
On Wednesday, the US military said that 150 prisoners have been taken to Iraq.
