Prime Minister Maliki orders changes in Iraqi security structure

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has ordered a shakeup in the security structure of the country following terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds of people across the Arab state since May 14.

“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 mosque in the west of Baghdad, killing 11 people and injuring 21 others.

Six more people were killed and 18 others 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.

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.