BAGHDAD, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Militants of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group on Monday detonated two power transmission towers in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, sparking anger among residents amid a continuous power shortage in Iraq's scorching summer, a provincial police source said.
"Daesh (IS group) planted bombs in two power transmission towers in Diyala province and detonated them, cutting off the electric power imported from neighboring (Iran)," the source Alaa al-Saadi told Xinhua.
"Iran's power line supplies electricity to about 50 percent of Diyala's cities and has been attacked by IS militants four times this year," al-Saadi added.
According to al-Saadi, many people demonstrated in the town of al-Salam and surrounding villages in the east of the provincial capital Baquba, about 65 km northeast of Baghdad, protesting the lack of electricity and demanding accountability from those responsible for the deterioration of the power shortage in Iraq.
Iraq has been witnessing a chronic power shortage since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, as the country's electricity plants generate a total of 19,000 megawatts, far less than the actual demand of over 30,000 megawatts.
Earlier, Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi held meetings to discuss the attacks attempting to sabotage power stations and transmission towers in several provinces of the country, and direct the army to strengthen the protection of power transmission lines.
The attacks came as Iraq is witnessing a hot summer with temperatures sometimes hitting about 50 degrees Celsius in central and southern provinces. Enditem
