The Iraqi Minister of Interior Yassin al-Yasiri Saturday dismissed Baghdad's police chief from his office, in addition to two senior police officers over the escape of 15 drug trafficking inmates from the jail of a police station in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
A statement by the ministry said al-Yasiri ordered the dismissal of Baghdad police chief, police chief of al-Rusafah, the eastern side of the city, and another senior police officer after the inmates charged of drug trafficking escaped from al-Qanat police station in eastern Baghdad.
The three sacked officers were detained at the ministry's headquarters in Baghdad for interrogation, the statement said.
Al-Yasiri ordered the formation of an investigative committee of senior officers in the ministry to consider the circumstances of the escape, the statement said.
The ministry statement did not give the number of the escaping inmates, but an anonymous security source told Xinhua that 15 inmates have escaped from the jail of the police station.
According to the statement, al-Yasiri has also ordered to set up multiple teams to track down the escaped inmates.
Earlier in the day, a security source told Xinhua that 15 detainees managed to escape from the detention center of the anti-narcotics section of al-Qanat police station in eastern the capital Baghdad.
According to the source, security forces have so far recaptured five of the escaped inmates and are increasing efforts to track down the rest of them.