This paper proposes a wide‐area backup protection technique for transmission lines using a limited number of synchronized phasor measurement units. A binary integral linear programming is used for optimal placement of phasor measurement units to achieve fault observability. The positive‐sequence voltage and current components are utilized for the detection and location of transmission lines faults. The proposed technique considers the randomness of faults on the transmission grid, different fault types, frequency fluctuations, synchronization and measurement errors, different fault inception angles, and different fault resistances, as well as various loading conditions. The proposed scheme is applied to the Western System Coordinating Council (WSCC) 9‐bus test system and the New England 39‐bus test system. Simulation results prove that the proposed protection scheme can detect and locate all transmission line faults correctly. © 2017 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.