BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government Wednesday reassigned the army and police chiefs in the southern city of Basra to new duties but denied the move was linked to the security forces' questionable performance during a recent offensive against militia fighters.
The police chief, Maj. Gen. Abdul Jalil Khalaf, rejected suggestions that he and Army Lt. Gen. Mohan Freiji were moved from their posts because of problems during the offensive. At least 1,300 police officers and soldiers have been fired for refusing to fight in the operation, which began March 25 and is still going on.
Khalaf and Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed Askari said the posts had been considered temporary and had been renewed every three months. Askari portrayed the changes as routine staff redeployments.
Nevertheless, the reassignment of Basra's two highest-ranking security officials in the aftermath of a military operation that left hundreds dead and saw mass troop desertions was sure to raise questions about Iraqi officials' confidence in Freiji and Khalaf.
Skirmishes continued Wednesday in Basra and in Sadr City, the Baghdad stronghold of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr. An unmanned U.S. Predator aircraft fired two Hellfire missiles on suspected militia fighters in Basra, killing four, the U.S. military said in a statement.
Two people were reported killed in Sadr City in clashes, hospital officials and police said.
Also Wednesday, the U.S. military reported that two Marines had died in a roadside bomb blast in the western province of Anbar. Their deaths brought to at least 4,037 the number of American troops killed in Iraq since the war began in March 2003, according to the independent website icasualties.org.
In Baghdad, an Associated Press photographer held for two years by the U.S. military without being formally charged was freed. Bilal Hussein was released after an Iraqi judicial panel said that an amnesty law passed by parliament in February applied to his case.
"Our understanding is he is absolved," Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner, the chief U.S. military spokesman, said when asked whether the military might try to detain Hussein again on new accusations.
Confusion surrounded the reassignment of the Basra security commanders. At a news conference, an Iraqi government spokesman, Maj. Gen. Qassim Musawi, said the two men had been scheduled to take up new posts after six months. They had taken on the positions last fall as British forces withdrew from a base in Basra and left security for the city in Iraqi hands.
