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| Maliki orders changes in Iraqi security structure |
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.jpg) An Iraqi government spokesman says Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has ordered changes in senior ranks of the military in the wake of bloody attacks that have killed hundreds of people in the past few days.
Ali al-Moussawi said on Wednesday that the shakeup will include commanders of divisions and operation commands nationwide. Al-Moussawi would not give more details on the decree, which was issued on Tuesday, AP reported.
“After consultation with security officials, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, today (Tuesday) issued orders... for changes in the operations commands and the leadership of the divisions,” a statement on the Iraqi prime minister’s website said on Tuesday.
“We are about to make changes in the high and middle positions of those responsible for security, and the security strategy,” Maliki told journalists in Baghdad late on Monday.
“I assure the Iraqi people that they (terrorists) will not be able to return us to the sectarian conflict,” which killed tens of thousands of people in Iraq during the past years, the Iraqi prime minister stated.
On Tuesday, a total of 42 people were killed and dozens of others injured in several attacks across Iraq, according to Iraqi security and hospital sources.
A car bomb targeted a Sunni mosque in the west of Baghdad, killing 11 people and injuring 21 others.
"I heard a powerful bang and a fireball near the main gate of the mosque," said Uday Raheem, a policeman who was deployed near the mosque in the Abu Ghraib area.
"We held back a while fearing a second explosion and then rushed to the blast location. The bodies of worshippers were scattered and some were shouting for help, bleeding to death."
Six more people were killed and 18 were injured by a bomb that detonated outside a cafe in the Doura district of southern Baghdad.
Eight people, including two policemen, were killed in bombings and shootings in Diyala province.
In the town of Kanaan, about 75 kilometers northeast of the capital, two roadside bombs went off in quick succession, claiming three lives.
In the city of Kirkuk, three roadside bombs killed six people, shredding their bodies and the bodies of several nearby animals.
"I heard the explosions, but never thought this place would be targeted since these animals have nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with sect, nothing to do with ethnicity or religion," said Mahmoud Jumaa, whose cousin was killed in the bomb attack.
Two car bombs killed three people in the town of Tuz Khurmato, which is located in Kirkuk province.
A bomber killed three soldiers at a checkpoint in the town of Tarmiya, north of Baghdad.
And in the eastern town of Khalis, gunmen broke into a house and killed a couple.
The incidents are the latest in a string of attacks that have left more than 300 people dead this month.
On May 20, attacks across Iraq left 113 people dead in both Shia and Sunni areas.
On May 18, shootings and bombings killed 16 people, including an anti-terrorism police captain and his entire family.
On May 17, bombers targeted Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad and surrounding areas, killing at least 76 people.
On May 16, car bombs hit Shia neighborhoods in Baghdad and attacks elsewhere in Iraq killed 21 people.
On May 15, a car bomb in the capital's main Shia district and attacks in other areas of the country killed 33 people.
And on May 14, unidentified gunmen killed 11 people in eastern Baghdad.
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