Tahsin al-Khafaji, the spokesman for the Joint Operations Command, informed on Sat. that a joint special force has been established to protect the country's electricity grid against ISIL sabotage operations.
"ISIL is trying to create a public insecurity concern by targeting electricity pylons and transmission towers," he said.
As he said, the Iraqi government has established an operation chamber between the security forces and the Ministry of Electricity to foil the sabotage operations of ISIL terrorists in the country's electricity network.
"The mission of this operating chamber is to protect the electricity pylons and to track down the perpetrators," he said.
The Iraqi government announced on Saturday that at least seven people were killed and 11 others were injured in various attacks on the country's electricity grid in different areas.
According to the Iraqi government, at least 61 main lines of the national electricity grid were destroyed in the attacks.
A few days ago, some informed sources announced the resignation of the Iraqi Electricity Minister Majid Mahdi Hantoush, due to the lack of electricity needed by Iraqi citizens in the summer, and announced that the Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, had also agreed with the resignation.
Simultaneously with the announcement of the resignation of the Iraqi Minister of Electricity, the Electricity Distribution Company in the south of the country on Tuesday announced the closure of all power plants in the southern regions of Iraq without announcing the reason, and the Maysan Electricity Authority announced that the electricity has been cut off in the four provinces of Dhi Qar, Basra, Maysan, and Al-Samawah.
The spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity, Ahmed Musa also said that this ministry has been the target of an unplanned or planned war to harass the people. "In just nine days, 31 power lines were targeted with explosives. Research should be done in this area."
ISIL terrorists have been sabotaging the Iraqi electricity distribution network for months, using it as a tactic to harass the Iraqi people, causing power outages in most of the country over the past few months.
Power transmission towers in remote areas away from the presence of security forces in provinces such as Diyala, Kirkuk and Saladin are often targeted by ISIL terrorists.
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