SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi interior minister Othman al-Ghanmi sacked Babil province’s police chief on Friday after an operation led to the deaths of 20 members of the same family.
The security forces launched an operation to arrest a wanted man in al-Rashayed village in Babil province on Thursday.
The suspect opened fire indiscriminately after the security forces surrounded him, authorities said.
On Friday, the interior minister visited the village where he dismissed Babil police chief, state news agency INA reported.
He also ordered the formation of a committee to investigate the unit that carried out the operation, INA said.
Two members of the security forces were also wounded in the operation, Babil Operations Command said on Thursday.
AFP cited an intelligence source as saying that the suspect was part the of Islamic State (ISIS) militant group.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi ordered the national security agency to investigate the incident in Babil, Iraq’s security media cell said.
“A number of officers and people have been arrested in connection with the incident,” it added.
