al-Maliki has replaced the Basra police chief over failure to stop attacks on Sunni mosques

[Kadie]

Iraq: Basra police chief replaced
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer
19 minutes ago


BAGHDAD, Iraq - Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has replaced the Basra police chief Monday over his force's failure to stop weekend attacks on Sunni mosques in Iraq's second-largest city, police said.

At least two major mosques were attacked in the Basra area over the weekend, in retaliation for the bombing Wednesday of a prized Shiite shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad.

A new police chief would replace Maj. Gen. Mohammed Hamadi al-Moussawi on Monday, a Basra police officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. Al-Moussawi will take another job in the Interior Ministry, which controls police.

Al-Moussawi was "seen as incompetent, because he couldn't stop attacks by Shiite extremists against two Sunni mosques in the wake of the Samara attacks," the officer said.

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