Iraq PM removes two high-ranking security officers
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has removed two high-ranking security officers from their posts, an official says.
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Maliki removed Lt. Gen. Ali Ghaidan, the chief of the army's ground forces, and Lt. Gen. Mohsen al-Kaabi, the head of the federal police, from their posts on Saturday as part of his promised shakeup in the security force.
Ghaidan was the commanders in charge of security in Nineveh Province last month when Iraqi forces surprisingly withdrew from Mosul, leaving it to the ISIL.
Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, the military spokesperson, said Maliki signed the papers to retire the high-ranking security officers.
No replacements have been named yet.
The dismissals are part of the premier’s shakeup of the security forces amid fierce clashes with Takfiri militants from the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Last month, Maliki ordered retirement of three generals deployed in Mosul, which fell to Takfiri terrorists early last month.
The Iraqi forces are pressing ahead with their fight against the ISIL militants, who have taken control of large swathes of the country and threatened to take the battle to the capital, Baghdad.
Maliki has said that the country’s security forces would fully confront the terrorists.
The UN said on Tuesday that violence in Iraq has claimed the lives of 2,417 Iraqis in June, making it the deadliest month so far this year.
More than one million people have been also displaced in Iraq so far this year, according to the United Nations.
