Pylons downed in Iraq as attacks on electricity supply continue

Three pylons in northern Iraq were downed on Tuesday, in yet another attack on the country's electricity infrastructure.

The pylons were toppled by an IED explosion in Kirkuk province, a state-linked electricity company said on Tuesday morning.

Power to a nearby village was cut, the statement said, but efforts were underway to fix the pylons.

The Islamic State (IS) have been blamed for the frequent attacks that have occurred on transmission towers and transformers in recent weeks. The group’s summer campaigns have in the past have centred on scorching agricultural land.

Most of the attacks have occurred in the northern Iraq provinces of Diyala, Kirkuk, and Nineveh, all of which are still home to remnants of IS. 

With the country in the grip of an exceptionally hot summer, Iraqis are heavily reliant on refrigeration and air conditioning to stay cool – but the attacks are wreaking havoc on Iraq’s already patchy national grid supply. Protests in the southern city of Basra over poor supply led the electricity minister to resign last week.

Supply has been hampered by Iran’s pause on its power exports to Iraq. Baghdad has since asked Iran to restart its gas supply to Iraq. 

Iran too has been struggling with blackouts in recent weeks. However, an Iraqi official said Tehran said it would be sending electricity to Basra.