IS says its fighters attacked Kabul power lines

The Islamic State militant group's Afghan branch 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 stabilise Afghanistan two months after they seized control. In a statement published on its Telegram channels, Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-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 neighbours Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, making cross-country power lines a prime target for insurgents.