Cairo: A militant attack on power pylons supplying electricity to Egypt’s Media Production City near Cairo on Tuesday took satellite TV stations housed in the complex off air, government officials said.
The assailants planted bombs next to the pylons, which also provide electricity to residential areas in the October 6th town west of Cairo, and detonated them by remote-controllers, according to security sources.
The explosion caused a massive power outage in the area.
One pylon was completely destroyed while a second was partially damaged, the state-run electricity company said.
After a brief disruption, satellite TV stations resumed their transmission, using backup generators.
Minister of Electricity Mohammad Chaker estimated that repairing the damage would take 10 days at a cost of around 1.2 million Egyptian pounds (Dh60,000).
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest in a wave of assaults by suspected militants against civil facilities in the country.
Egyptian Prime Minister Ebrahim Mahleb inspected the site of the latest attack, vowing that his government would continue a relentless crackdown on militancy.
“Egypt’s people are not intimidated. If terrorists insist on ruining the country, we are determined to complete its building,” Mahleb said.
The attack comes two days after at least 14 soldiers were killed in two separate assaults targeting Egyptian security forces in the restive North Sinai.
“The cowardly acts whether those witnessed by the Media Production City or Al Arish [in North Sinai] will not demoralise us,” Mahleb said.
Egypt has experienced a surge in attacks against security troops since 2013 when the army deposed Islamist president Mohammad Mursi after massive protests against his one-year rule.
In recent months, the country has seen a flurry of roadside bombs targeting electricity pylons, banks and mobile phone service providers.
The violence was blamed on Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood and sympathising extremist groups. The Brotherhood, already designated by Egyptian authorities as a terrorist organisation, has denied any link to unrest, insisting it pursues peaceful activism.
