Iraq conflict: PM fires senior officers over rebel advance

Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki has fired senior officers for failing to halt a sweeping advance by Sunni Islamist rebels, the BBC reported.

Four army commanders were dismissed because they did not perform "their national duty," a government statement said on Tuesday.

Iraqi forces have been engaged in heavy clashes with the rebels who have seized several key cities in the past week.

The US is deploying up to 275 military personnel to protect staff at its huge embassy in the capital, Baghdad.

Mr Maliki and other senior figures of his Shia government were joined by Sunni leaders in a call for "national unity", after talks in Baghdad on Tuesday evening.

They urged Iraqis to avoid sectarian grievances and said individuals with no official state function were banned from carrying weapons.

The militants, led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), took control of the northern cities of Mosul and Tikrit in a rapid advance last week, and Tal Afar on Monday.

They also briefly captured parts of the city of Baquba - just 60km (35 miles) from Baghdad - in an overnight assault, before government troops and allied Shia militia pushed them back on Tuesday.