Iraqi PM retires 2 top-ranking security officers

Iraq's military spokesman says the prime minister has removed the chief of the army's ground forces and the head of the federal police from their posts.
Lt General Qassim al-Moussawi says Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki signed the papers today to retire Lt Gen Ali Ghaidan, commander of the army's ground forces, and Lt Gen Mohsen al-Kaabi, the federal police chief.
Al-Moussawi says both men leave their jobs with their pensions. No replacements have been named.
The dismissals are part of al-Maliki's shakeup of the security forces after their near collapse in the face of a sweeping militant offensive led by the Islamic State extremist group.

Last month, al-Maliki retired three generals who had been deployed in the north and ordered legal proceedings against them.