AP, Baghdad, 5 July 2014 — Iraq’s prime minister removed the chief of the army’s ground forces and the head of the federal police from their posts Saturday as part of his promised shakeup in the security forces following their near collapse in the face of a militant blitz last month, an official said.
Military spokesman Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi says Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki signed the papers to retire Lt. Gen. Ali Ghaidan, commander of the army’s ground forces, and Lt. Gen. Mohsen al-Kaabi, the chief of the federal police.
No replacements have been named.
Shiite militiamen and volunteers have had to fill the void as the regular army struggles to regroup.
Al-Maliki has also vowed to bring the full weight of military law, including the execution of deserters, on anyone who is found out to have fled the battle.
The Islamic extremists have destroyed at least 10 ancient shrines and Shiite mosques in territory they have seized in northern Iraq, according images posted online and residents.