clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Iraq: Daesh militants attack power lines in Diyala governorate

May 20, 2020 at 8:57 am

Iraqi soldiers conduct a military operation against Daesh in Iraq on 29 December 2019 [Alı Makram Ghareeb/Anadolu Agency]

Daesh militants yesterday attacked overhead power lines on the outskirts of Mansouriya district, in the Diyala governorate, a local source reported.

Iraq’s Shafaq News Agency yesterday quoted the source as saying that Daesh militants detonated two towers and damaged a third using explosive devices, in the village of Al-Tineh, north of Mansouriya.

The source said the towers are part of the strategic power transmission line between Mansouriya and Kirkuk, explaining that the damage to the towers caused a blackout in several regions.

Iraqi security forces, Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) and local tribesmen launched a campaign in search of the perpetrators, the sources said, but it is thought they fled into the mountains.

The power transmission lines that extend from Iran to Baghdad via Diyala have been subject to numerous attacks, amid popular and official demands to form special forces to protect them.

READ: ‘Significant progress’ in UN effort to prosecute Daesh fighters for crimes against humanity