Senior Sangin power official dies in blast

KANDAHAR CITY (Pajhwok): A senior electricity official for the Sangin district of southern Helmand province was killed in a roadside bombing while trying to repair broken high voltage transmission lines carrying electricity from the Kajaki dam to Lashkargah and Kandahar cities.

Kandahar power department head Amanullah Ayub Farooqi told Pajhwok Afghan News that Haji Mohammad Nabi, who was responsible for the maintenance of transmission lines from the Kajaki hydropower dam to Lashkargah and Kandahar City was killed in the blast in Sangin’s Shakar area at around 10am.

Nabi, who was deputy head of the Sangin power department, had gone to the area to repair power lines broken during clashes between security forces and militants in the troubled town.

The lines had been snapped 20 days ago, plunging Lashkargah and Kandahar City into darkness.

Farooqi said Nabi was an influential tribal elder and the most experienced person in his department.

As a tribal elder, Nabi would negotiate with Taliban insurgents regarding electricity related issues.

Sangin administrative head Suliman Shah confirmed Nabi had died in a landmine blast.

Electricity officials in Kandahar say due to clashes between militants and security forces, transmission lines from Kajaki to Lashkargah and Kandahar City had been broken at 15 locations, but most of the lines were repaired except those in Shakar Shela and Garam Ab areas of Sangin because of landmine threats.

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