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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Asharq Al-Awsat

ISIS Says it Attacked Kabul Power Lines

Afghans line up outside a bank to take out their money after Taliban takeover in Kabul, Afghanistan September 1, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer

ISIS group's Afghan branch on Friday said it was behind an explosion that brought down electricity lines and plunged Kabul into darkness.

The power cut on Thursday was a further blow to Taliban efforts to stabilize Afghanistan two months after they seized control.

In a statement published on its Telegram channels, ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) said "the soldiers of the caliphate detonated a bomb on an electricity pylon in Kabul" to damage the electricity sector.

The explosion hit a high-voltage line supplying imported power to Kabul and some other provinces.

Afghanistan is largely reliant on electricity imported from its northern neighbors Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, making cross-country power lines a prime target for insurgents.

The Taliban has promised to fight ISIS-K but the group has continued to carry out devastating atrocities.

Earlier this week, ISIS-K said it was behind a suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque in the southern city of Kandahar on October 15 that killed 60 people.

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