Story highlights Syrian Ministry of Electricity says workers have begun restoring power in some places

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(CNN) The Syrian government reported a nationwide power outage Thursday -- the latest electricity problem in a country that has seen frequent outages during a five-year war involving the regime, rebels and terror groups.

Electrical workers determined the cause and began restoring power to some places by late Thursday afternoon, the Syrian Ministry of Electricity said without detailing what had gone wrong.

It wasn't clear how many people the outage affected as many cities outside of the regime's control don't get service from the government-run power grid. ISIS and other militant groups control large parts of the country, and many cities in these areas use fuel-powered generators for electricity.

Efforts to relaunch power service could take two to 12 hours, a Ministry of Electricity official said in a video posted online late Thursday afternoon.

Shortly before the reports of the outage, the ministry said on its Facebook page Thursday that militants had hit part of a power-generating station with rockets in the western city of Hama. The Syrian government hasn't said whether this attack was linked to the nationwide outage; the ministry said maintenance workers were fixing the damage.

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