Iraqi PM sacks top security officers over failure in halting ISIS insurgents

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki has sacked some senior security officers for failing to halt the advance of Sunni insurgent groups.

In a statement, Maliki said that they have decided to punish a number of officers who failed in the performance of their professional and national duties.

According to the statement, he has fired Lieutenant General Mehdi Sabih al-Gharawi, commander of Nineveh Operations Command, his deputy Major General Abdul Rahman Handhal, as well as Chief of Staff and Brigadier General Hassan Abdul Razak, and will take legal actions against them

The Xinhua news agency reported that he has also fired Brigadier General Hidayat Abdul Rahim, commander of the army's 3rd infantry division, who has been "referred to the military court for his trial in absentia for his escape from the battlefield to an unknown destination".

Thousands of Iraqi soldiers and officers fled their posts in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh last Tuesday, which paved the way for Sunni militants, including those who are linked to the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant, an al-Qaida offshoot, to seize the provincial city of Mosul and then large parts of provinces of Salahudin and Diyala.