KABUL – Afghan Taliban have blown up a power pylon supplying electricityfrom Uzbekistan to Afghanistan link> innorthern Baghlan province, the power utility said on Monday.

In Kabul, De Afghanistan Breshna Shirkat (DABS) said the militantsdestroyed the pylon with a bomb 22 kilometer from a sub-station in theBaghlan capital at around 2am, Pajhwok News has reported.

The statement said a technical team had arrived in the area to repair thepylon. The problem would be fixed in a few hours, DABS promised.

Mahmood Haqmal, the Baghlan governor spokesman, confirmed the pylon wasblown up in the Gylagi area of Doshi district. He told Pajhwok Afghan Newsthe militants had planted explosives under the pylon.

A resident of the area, Mohammad Alam, said: “We did not hear the predawnexplosion but, in the morning, we saw the fallen pylon.”

Two days back, the Taliban had warned of snapping transmission lines toKabul in Baghlan if work on distribution of electricity was not launched incertain areas of the province.

In a statement, the insurgents said some areas of Baghlan were stilldeprived of the facility in breach of the commitments held out by thegovernment.

The Taliban destroyed an electricity pylon in Dand-i-Shababuddin last year,cutting off the imported electricity supply to Kabul for 40 days.