The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity announced on Wednesday evening that seven transformers in Kirkuk were damaged due to a terrorist sabotage operation in the province. In more detail, the ministry stated in a release that while the advanced teams of the Ministry of Electricity were working on repairing the transmission towers damaged by terrorist sabotage, they faced significant attacks targeting the distribution sector, aimed at halting the ministry’s projects and exhausting its teams.
It added that the distribution sector in the northern region was subjected to terrorist sabotage through the detonation of explosive devices that targeted the distribution networks in the Sarkran district of Kirkuk, resulting in damage to seven transformers and the shutdown of the Qaraq feed.
Repeated Incidents
The ministry also mentioned that the engineering and technical teams at the Kirkuk Electricity Distribution Branch, alongside military engineering efforts, headed to the incident site to assess the damage and began addressing the fault in the Qaraq feed to restore its operation. It noted that the damaged transformers belonged to farmers in the Khazer village.
It is noteworthy that several Iraqi provinces have recently witnessed an unprecedented wave of attacks on electricity transmission towers between cities, especially in remote, sparsely populated areas. This prompted the Iraqi Ministry of Interior to contract with a Chinese company to purchase drones for the protection of the electricity lines.
These acts of sabotage followed an announcement on Tuesday by the Joint Operations Command in Iraq about preparing plans in coordination with the Ministry of Electricity to protect energy towers, while also declaring the apprehension of several individuals involved in targeting them.
Joint Operations spokesman Tahsin al-Khafaji stated to the Iraqi news agency that the Joint Operations Command has prepared plans in coordination with the Ministry of Electricity to protect energy towers, noting that they introduced new technical efforts in the protection process.
Al-Khafaji added that the Joint Operations Command managed to arrest several individuals involved and to thwart many attacks on energy towers through specialized operations. Additionally, he indicated that ambushes were used, and forces were deployed to protect the towers, as well as aerial reconnaissance using air force, army aircraft, or even drones.
More than 18 Operations
It is worth mentioning that the Security Media Cell announced last Monday that it had thwarted an attempt to blow up one of the electricity transmission towers in the Amrli district. In a statement, it indicated that security forces managed, through field monitoring and intensified intelligence and field efforts, to thwart an attempt to blow up one of the electricity transmission towers in the Muftul area, part of the Amrli district in the Tuz Khurmatu district.
On Sunday, the Joint Operations Command revealed that it had thwarted more than 18 operations targeting energy towers over the course of two weeks, while the Ministry of Electricity noted that some attacks on energy towers were systematic and others were random.
