Iraq suspends commanders over mass kidnap

BAGHDAD • Interior Minister Jawad Al Bolani ordered the suspension yesterday of two police commanders in the wake of a brazen high-profile kidnapping operation in the Iraqi capital.

“The minister of interior ordered the suspension of the commander of the 8th Brigade of the National Police and another battalion commander and he initiated an investigation into the security violations in Amil neighbourhood,” Major General Rashid Fulayah said on state television. Hundreds of residents of the south-west Baghdad neighbourhood, mostly Sunni, demonstrated yesterday against the police, accusing them of turning a blind eye to the kidnappers, who snatched 26 people from a food processing plant on Sunday.

Many of those taken subsequently turned up dead in Abu Chir neighbourhood to the south. There have long been complaints over Iraqi security forces, particularly the police forces controlled by the interior ministry, of turning a blind eye to Shi’ite armed gangs involved in kidnapping and assassinations.

US military commanders operating in south-west Baghdad have also expressed their suspicions about the National Police in these mixed Sunni-Shi’ite neighbourhoods with strong a strong militia presence.

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