Baghlan provincial police said on Saturday that Taliban insurgents destroyed an electricity pylon in Baghlan province late Friday night.



According to the officials, the destruction of the pylon, which transmits electricity from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, has left much of Kabul without power.



Late Friday night Taliban insurgents detonated explosives close to the pylon in Doshe district of Baghlan, police said.



With the destruction of this pylon, electricity has now been cut off in a number of provinces, including the capital Kabul.



Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) officials confirmed to TOLOnews that a pylon, which transmits electricity from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan has been destroyed in Baghlan province and for now Kabul is without imported electricity.

Officials said they are trying to fix the problem but their engineers have not yet reached the area.



The Taliban said in a statement that they destroyed the pylon in response to government having cut electricity to some of the areas under their control.

This is the second time in a month that insurgents have damaged pylons in Baghlan province.



Last month Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) officials in Baghlan province said that unknown men destroyed a key power pylon in Kelagai in the province.



This pylon was blown up following the destruction of two other pylons a week earlier by the Taliban in Kunduz. This pylon also cut off electricity from Tajikistan to Kabul.



Insurgents said in a statement that they will cut off all electricity to Kabul unless government distributes electricity to areas in their control. </s> A number of Kabul residents on Sunday criticized the Taliban insurgent group for continuously destroying electricity pylons in Baghlan province.

They urged the militant group to stop destroying the pylons because it is “only leaving poor people” in the dark and damage their small businesses.

“The governmental institutions are having power generators, only the public is suffering,” Ramin, a resident of the capital Kabul said.

“Only ordinary people and especially residents of Kabul are experiencing this problem,” Sayed Ghafoor, another resident added.

People also criticize Afghanistan’s national power utility company for lack of a contingency plan.

“If the Kajaki dam was build and fundamental projects were implemented, we had no problem and there was no need to export electricity,” Kabul resident Hekmatullah said.

In addition, the industrialists express their concerns for experiencing economic loss to their business due to the continued blackouts.

“Those goods which needs to be kept in the refrigerator are getting spoiled,” Ali Wahaj, a shopkeeper said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior Spokesman Najib Danish asked people to cooperate with police.

“We have to cooperate with each other. We must not allow vicious individuals to destroy pylons and infrastructural projects of the people of Afghanistan,” Danish said.

At the same time, Wahidullah Tawhidi Spokesman to the power utility company told Ariana News that the company is making its efforts to solve the issue permanently.

“Right now, our colleagues are discussing the issue with tribal elders in the area to find a permanent solution to the problem through holding a Jirga,” Tawhidi said.

This is the second time in a month that Taliban insurgents have damaged pylons in northern Baghlan province, leaving Kabul and some other provinces in dark. </s> KABUL, Afghanistan: A massive power outage in Kabul has left many residents of the Afghan capital with no lights or running water, officials said Sunday, after militants blew up an electricity pylon in the restive north.

A pre-dawn attack Saturday on a transmission tower in Baghlan province left Kabul with 95 megawatts, less than a quarter of its normal power supply, said Wahid Tawhidi, a spokesman for power utility Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS).

Efforts to repair the pylon had so far failed as heavy fighting prevented a local DABS crew from reaching the site, Tawhidi told

“Today when our team tried to go to the area, rockets were fired at their vehicles and they had to turn back,” he said.

The provincial governor’s spokesman Mahmood Haqmal said Taliban fighters had used a mine to “bring down” the power line.

“They have escaped the area but some of them are still in the mountains, preventing engineers from fixing the pylon,” Haqmal told AFP.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP that the militant group had “cut a cable in Baghlan province”.

This is the fourth outage in recent weeks caused by militant attacks on the power line transmitting electricity from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. It has also affected neighbouring Nangarhar and Parwan provinces, Tawhidi said.

The Taliban warned last month that they would continue to cut power to Kabul unless their demands for electricity in areas under their control in Baghlan and Kunduz provinces were met.

Residents in Kabul have been forced to make do with just an hour of electricity a day, sparking a firestorm of complaints on social media.

“We had one minute of electricity then no electricity the whole day. What kind of electricity this is?” Ahmad Zia Jamal wrote on Facebook.

Another Facebook user, Shabnam Khurasani, posted: “Power cuts in Kabul are intolerable.”

The bulk of Afghanistan’s electricity comes from neighbouring countries but the amount is insufficient to meet demand.

Residents in the Afghan capital are used to power shortages during the colder months when usage is higher, but supply is normally more plentiful in spring and summer.

Many people have diesel generators to provide backup power to their homes and businesses. Others go without, relying on battery-powered torches for light and drums of water to bathe and flush toilets.—AFP </s> Fresh fighting in northern Afghanistan has disrupted the electric supply to Kabul and several provinces for the second time in less than three weeks.

 

 The hostilities come as the country's Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Saturday launched a long-delayed voters' registration process for parliamentary and district council elections scheduled for October 20.

 

 A provincial police spokesman told VOA that a team of technicians from the state-owned electricity department has arrived in the Baghlan province to assess the damage and carry out the repair work, but heavy fighting prevented them from reaching the site in Dushi district.

 

 Officials said the overnight destruction of the electricity tower plunged a vast area into darkness, including much of the Afghan capital, a city of more than 5 million people.Residents and businesses in Kabul said Saturday they were relying on private generators to run critical operations.

 

 Transmission lines passing through Baghlan are used to import about 300 megawatts of electricity from neighboring Central Asian states of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

 

 The Taliban controls or contests several districts in the Afghan province and routinely launches attacks on security forces in government-controlled areas.

 

 Last month, insurgents also had blown up a major electricity tower in the Kelagai area of Baghlan, cutting the power supply to Kabul and many Afghan provinces for several days.

 

 The Taliban had justified their action at the time, saying the government was blocking supply of electricity to insurgent-controlled areas.

 

 Separately, officials confirmed Saturday that an overnight Taliban attack in the western city of Farah killed at least seven Afghan soldiers and wounded several others.

 

 Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Saturday repeated his offer of peace talks for the Taliban and invited them to register as a political group to join the parliamentary elections for seeking resolution of their disagreements.

 

 Ghani spoke shortly after launching the voters' registration process at the presidential place in Kabul. The two-months long exercise will enable the country to create for the first time in its history formal voters' lists — a move likely to address allegations of fraud and rigging, according to Afghan officials.

 

 "We have placed before the Taliban a clear and comprehensive peace plan.If they believe in the betterment of the Afghan nation they should accept it and come to contest the elections," said the president.

 

 Ghani was referring to his offer of unconditional peace talk she announced in February at an international conference in Kabul. His initiative received widespread domestic and international backing.

 

 The Taliban so far has not publicly offered any reaction to the peace overture, however, and instead has intensified battlefield attacks across Afghanistan. </s> KABUL — An Afghan official says the Taliban have destroyed a highway bridge southwest of Kabul during a wide-ranging assault on security forces, cutting off road traffic between the capital and three provinces.

Abdul Rahman Mangel, the provincial governor’s spokesman, says Afghan forces repelled the attack, which began late Saturday and appeared to be aimed at seizing a district headquarters in the Maidan Wardak province. He says gunbattles are still underway and there are casualties on both sides, without elaborating. The Taliban claim to have overrun the Sayed Abad district headquarters, but local officials denied the claim.

The bridge destroyed in the assault cuts off the main highway from Kabul to the Ghazni, Zabul and Kandahar provinces. The battle also cut off electricity to four provinces: Maidan Wardak, Logar, Ghazni and Paktia. </s> KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban have destroyed highway bridges southwest of Kabul during a wide-ranging assault on security forces, cutting off road traffic between the capital and three provinces, officials said Sunday.

Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said Afghan security forces repelled the attack but that gunbattles are still underway. He said at least six Afghan police, including a district police chief, were killed in the fighting. A provincial official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters, said at least 10 police were killed.

The official said the Taliban attacked a number of remote checkpoints, and that the toll could be much higher.

Abdul Rahman Mangel, the provincial governor's spokesman, said the attack began late Saturday and appeared to be aimed at seizing the Sayed Abad district headquarters, in the Maidan Wardak province.

The Taliban said they overran the district headquarters, but local officials denied the claim.

Danish said reinforcements have been sent to the area and that "most areas in the district" are under control.

The destruction of the bridges cut off the main highway from Kabul to the Ghazni, Zabul and Kandahar provinces. The battle also cut off electricity to four provinces: Maidan Wardak, Logar, Ghazni and Paktia.

The Taliban have seized a number of districts across the country in recent years and regularly attack security forces. The latest assault comes just two weeks before Afghanistan holds parliamentary elections. </s> KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan forces were still battling the Taliban in parts of Ghazni on Saturday, a day after the insurgents launched a multi-pronged assault on the eastern city.

Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said at least 25 security forces have been killed and wounded since the assault began early Friday, and that a local reporter was killed. It was unclear how many other civilians had been killed or wounded during the attack. Danish said more than 150 insurgents have been killed or wounded.

He said that although the fighting was still underway, “the situation is under control and there isn’t any serious threat.”

“Any threat which could cause the fall of the city has been eliminated,” he added.

The Taliban claim to have seized parts of the city and to have killed local officials. In a media statement, the group said it had seized dozens of armored vehicles as well as light and heavy weapons and ammunition. They said they “liberated” the central prison in Ghazni and freed all Taliban prisoners.

It was not possible to verify the claims because the Taliban destroyed a nearby communications tower, cutting off cellphone and landline access to the city. The insurgents also set fire to the local TV headquarters, making it difficult to broadcast images from Ghazni.

The city of about 140,000 people was in lockdown for the second day as residents stayed indoors and reported sporadic gunfire. The highway from Kabul to Afghanistan’s southern provinces, which runs through Ghazni, is still closed.

Ghazni is a gateway city linking the heavily Taliban-influenced south and east of Afghanistan to Kabul and is one of the last vestiges of government control in the province of the same name. The Taliban holds sway in most of the province where ethnic Pashtuns live, while the government’s influence is limited to Ghazni and small pockets dominated by ethnic Hazaras.

In northern Baghlan province, meanwhile, Taliban attacked police and army checkpoints, killing 13 police and soldiers, officials said.

Gen. Ekramuddin Serih, provincial police chief, said six policemen were killed and two police officers were wounded in the gun battle Friday night in Baghlani Kohna district. At least 10 insurgents were killed and four other were wounded, he said.

Seven soldiers were killed and two other troops were taken alive by the insurgents, according to a provincial official from Baghlan governor’s office who was not authorized to speak with media about casualties.

“Taliban were not able to overrun the checkpoints and were defeated by the (security) forces,” said Serih.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks across the country since NATO and the United States formally ended their combat mission in 2014. U.S. and NATO forces remain in Afghanistan mainly in a supporting and training role in the 17-year-old war. </s> KABUL—The Taliban destroyed highway bridges southwest of Kabul during a wide-ranging assault on security forces, cutting off road traffic between the capital and three provinces for most of the day on Sunday, officials said. Interior Ministry deputy spokesperson Nasrat Rahimi said 14 police, including a district police chief, were killed as the insurgents tried but failed to capture the Sayed Abad district headquarters in the Maidan Wardak province. He said another seven security forces were wounded.

The highway between Kabul and Kandahar has since been reopened, and “the route has returned to normal,” he added. The insurgents burned down part of the district police headquarters and destroyed a number of checkpoints around the district, said Hekmat Durani, the provincial police chief’s spokesman. Durani said that around 20 Taliban fighters were killed and wounded during the battle in Sayed Abad. The Taliban said they overran the district headquarters, but local officials denied the claim.

The destruction of the bridges had cut off the main highway from Kabul to the Ghazni, Zabul and Kandahar provinces. The battle also cut off electricity to four provinces: Maidan Wardak, Logar, Ghazni and Paktia. The Taliban have seized a number of districts across the country in recent years and regularly attack security forces. The latest assault comes just two weeks before Afghanistan holds parliamentary elections.

On Sunday, the UN mission in Afghanistan said civilian deaths from suicide bombings rose 46 per cent in the first nine months of this year from the same period last year and that deaths from roadside bombs were up 21 per cent. It says more than 1,000 people were killed and more than 2,500 have been wounded this year in both kinds of attacks, including scores of women and children. It said suicide bombings caused more civilian deaths than any other form of violence, including ground battles between troops and insurgents. “Deliberately targeting civilians is a war crime and cannot be tolerated,” said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN envoy for Afghanistan. “The unpredictable nature of these types of attacks has caused Afghans unbearable suffering and forced them to live in fear of the next explosion, severely curtailing their ability to carry out normal lives.” The UN also documented a dramatic increase in attacks deliberately targeting civilians. While the Taliban mainly attack security forces and government officials, an Islamic State affiliate has launched a relentless wave of bombings targeting Afghanistan’s Shiite minority. The UN said that in the first nine months of this year it has documented more casualties from attacks on Shiites than in the whole of 2017. </s> KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A Taliban assault on two adjacent checkpoints in northern Afghanistan killed at least 30 soldiers and policemen, officials said, as life gradually returned to normal on Wednesday in parts of the eastern city of Ghazni after a massive, days-long insurgent attack, with sporadic gunbattles still underway in some neighborhoods.

In Kabul, a suicide bomber targeted a training class for university students in a private building in a Shiite neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon, killing one person and wounding 12, officials said. The attack set off a gunbattle with security guards in the area and officials expressed fears that the casualty toll would rise.

In the northern Baghlan province, the Taliban set fire to two checkpoints after the attack late Tuesday in the Baghlan-I Markazi district, said Mohammad Safdar Mohseni, the head of the provincial council.

Dilawar Aymaq, a parliamentarian from Baghlan, confirmed the attack, which targeted a military checkpoint and another manned by the so-called local police, militias recruited and paid by the Interior Ministry.

Abdul Hai Nemati, the governor of Baghlan, said at least nine security forces are still missing and four others were wounded in the attack. He said reinforcements have been dispatched to help recapture the checkpoints.

Meanwhile, Afghans emerged from their homes and some shops reopened in Ghazni, where the Taliban launched a coordinated offensive last Friday, overwhelming the city's defenses and capturing several neighborhoods. Afghan forces repelled the initial assault and in recent days have struggled to flush the insurgents out of residential areas where they are holed up.

The U.S. and NATO have launched airstrikes and sent military advisers to aid Afghan forces as they fight for the city, which is just 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the Afghan capital and has a population of some 270,000 people.

Arif Noori, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said Wednesday that "life is getting back to normal" after at least 35 civilians were killed in recent days. But he said wounded people are still arriving at the city's only hospital, which has been overwhelmed by the casualties.

Hundreds of people have fled the fighting in Ghazni, which has killed about 100 members of the Afghan security forces.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, the Taliban attacked a police checkpoint in the southern Zabul province early Wednesday, killing four policemen, according to the provincial police chief, Mustafa Mayar, who said another three officers were wounded. He said seven attackers were killed and five were wounded during the battle, in which the Taliban used artillery and heavy weapons.

The Taliban have seized several districts across the country in recent years and carry out near-daily attacks targeting Afghan security forces. The assault on Ghazni was widely seen as a show of force ahead of possible peace talks with the United States, which has been at war in Afghanistan for nearly 17 years.

Also on Wednesday, six children were killed when they tinkered with an unexploded rocket shell, causing it to blow up, said Sarhadi Zwak, spokesman for the governor of the eastern Laghman province. Zwak said that the victims were girls, aged 10-12, who were gathering firewood on Wednesday.

He blamed insurgents, saying the rockets they fire at Afghan security forces often harm civilians.

Afghanistan is littered with unexploded ordnance left by decades of war. It is also plagued by roadside bombs planted by insurgents, which are usually intended for government officials or security forces, but often kill and maim civilians.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack in Kabul's western Dasht-i Barcha neighborhood, populated by Shiites.

Mohammad Asim, chief of the Kabul ambulance services, said casualties were still being brought to hospitals.

Abdul Hossain Hossainzada, a Shiite community leader in western Kabul, told The Associated Press the bomber apparently targeted the course, which was preparing students for university entrance exams.
The Taliban destroy an electricity pylon in Doshe, Baghlan, Afghanistan, overnight. The pylon carries imported power from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and its destruction causes widespread blackouts across several provinces and in capital Kabul.