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Afghan troops dislodge militants in N district, help reconnect electricity to Kabul

Xinhua, February 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Afghan security forces cleared a restive district from militants on the outskirts of Pul-e-Khumri, capital of northern Afghan province of Baghlan on Tuesday.

The move will help government technical teams repair electricity towers that were destroyed by militants earlier, authorities said.

Power outage has reached 18 to 20 hours a day in Afghan capital of Kabul and other cities since Jan. 26 when the militants destroyed three metal power pylons in Dand-e-Shahabudin district in the province, 160 km north of Kabul, causing huge losses to ordinary people and businesses.

"The cleanup operation will continue before Dand-e-Shahabudin is clear of militants. Security forces killed six militants and injured four others in surrounding areas of the district Monday night," Gen. Abdul Rashid Bashir, deputy provincial police chief, told Xinhua on Tuesday.

"The army engineering teams have been clearing the landmines and roadside bombs around destroyed electricity pylons so that power workers can visit the site and reconnect the electricity to Kabul and other big cities soon," he said.

The Taliban has intensified attacks over the past couple of months as the Afghan security forces assumed the full security responsibility from NATO-led troops since Jan. 1, 2015.

Wahidullah Tawhidi, spokesman for Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), the country's national power supplier, told local media earlier in the day that the DABS personnel had already supplied all needed materials near the site, adding that the electricity will be reconnected to Kabul within days.

Last winter, Kabul and others cities also experienced a severe power cut for more than two months after heavy snowfall and avalanches destroyed pylons in the Salang Pass, in Parwan province.

A 442-km high voltage transmission line from Uzbekistan to Afghanistan was completed in late 2008. It runs from the country's border with Uzbekistan towards Kabul through five Afghan provinces, transmitting some 300 megawatts of electricity from the water-resource rich country. Endit