Iraqi PM sacks electricity minister

BAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi sacked his electricity minister yesterday amid continuing protests over poor public services especially power cuts and rampant corruption, the premier’s office said.

It said in a statement that Abadi had also ordered an internal government investigation into Electricity Minister Qassim alFahdawi’s role in the deterioration of utility services. There was no immediate comment from Fahdawi. Protests have swept cities in the long neglected south, Iraq’s Shi’ite Muslim heartland, over widespread electricity outages during the blistering hot Iraqi summer, a lack of jobs and proper government services, and pervasive graft.