Iraqi Defence Minister Khaled al-Obeidi was removed from the office on Thursday after the country’s parliament impeached him over corruption allegations. “I tried with everything to fight corruption but it appears that its masters are stronger, their voices louder and their actions more enduring”. His impeachment follows the resignation of Iraq’s interior minister Mohammed al-Ghabban, which now leaves two important security positions in Iraq vacant. Al-Obeidi’s departure was precipitated by infighting among the country’s Sunni political parties, rather than by friction between Sunnis and Shiites.
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Iraq’s second-largest city has been in the hands of ISIL for over two years now. Iraqi forces, backed by USA -led warplanes, however, have managed to retake most of the territory.
“Liberating Qayyarah will mean cutting off Mosul from the southern areas, which will make liberating Mosul much easier”, Najm al-Juburi, who heads the provincial operations command, said. We haven’t recorded any civilian casualties in this operation.
The commander further noted that engineering units were clearing Qayyarah of unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
The parliament’s decision came hours after the Iraqi security forces freed Qayyara, a strategic town 50 km south of Mosul, the capital of Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks.
And three shootings in different Baghdad neighborhoods killed six people.
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Brigadier General Najm Al-Jabouri, from the Nineveh Operations Command, said the terrorist group now lacks its previous capabilities and conducts only suicide attacks and uses auto bombs.
