Iraq fires 1,300 soldiers and police

BAGHDAD, April 13 (UPI) -- About 1,300 police officers and soldiers have been fired in Basra and Kut for failing to fight Shiite militias, the Iraqi government announced Sunday.

The dismissals include 37 senior police officers as high-ranking as brigadier general, The New York Times reported. In Basra, 500 soldiers and 421 police officers were fired.

During the attempt to disarm militia fighters, especially those from the Mehdi Army loyal to Moqtada Sadr, some police officers switched sides. The offensive ended with an Iranian-brokered ceasefire.

"Some of them were sympathetic with these lawbreakers, some refused to battle for political or national or sectarian or religious reasons," Gen. Abdul-Kareem Khalaf, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said.

Ali al-Dabbagh, a government spokesman, announced that a proposed law would ban parties that have not dissolved their militias from participating in next October's election. But the law may be difficult to enforce since the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq and Sadr's followers are the leading Shiite groups in the government and both have militias.