Iraqi official says interior ministry sacked 20000 policemen

BAGHDAD/IraqiNews.com: Senior interior official said over 20 thousands policemen were sacked to improve the performance of security forces. Speaking to reporters at a press conference in Baghdad, Gen. Aydin Khalid Qadir, director of police in interior ministry, said “the ministry sacked 20 thousands of policemen and officers through the past two years along with firing bad elements of the ministry personnel to reach a professional performance for the ministry. “The measures enhanced the performance of Iraqi security forces and have reflected in improving the security situation”. The police official unveiled the ministry “arrested 20-member network extorting $500 for facilitating appointments of applicants into security forces”. “The Information department captured a network forging Interior Ministry stamps to endorse papers of individuals applying for Interior ministry forces”. The police official also announced the ministry has launched a new finger-prints programme to track down gunmen. “The Ministry sought to train over 1000 of its staffs to check finger-prints used by gunmen and to identify them with criminal investigations records”. AM(S) 1