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Iraqs prime minister removed 36 senior army officers in a shakeup of a military that collapsed in the face of the offensive by Islamic State militants.

Haidar al-Abadi late yesterday fired 26 commanders, retired 10 others and made 18 appointments in his biggest overhaul of the security forces since he took office three months ago. Abadi said the steps were taken to re-energize the military leadership, according to postings on his Twitter page. Military chiefs needed to show integrity, competence and courage to defeat Islamic State, he added.

The Iraqi army, which has received billions of dollars in U.S. training and equipment over the past 10 years, disintegrated in June as Islamic State swept through mainly Sunni areas in western and northern Iraq. The militants have declared an Islamic caliphate in an area straddling the Iraq-Syria border.

The al-Qaeda splinter group led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, an Iraqi with a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head, has carried out mass killings of captured Iraqi Shiite troops, beheaded members of religious minorities and forced women into sexual slavery.

Abadis changes include replacing his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Babaker Zibari, with Lieutenant General Khorsheed Saleem, according to the Al-Mada news agency and Sharqiya television channel. Staff Brigadier Qasim Muhammad was named as commander of the restive mainly Sunni Anbar province, neighboring Baghdad, according to the reports. Anbar has seen fierce fighting in recent weeks between the Islamic State and Iraqs army backed by sectarian militias.

Since taking office Abadi has sought to overcome deep Sunni hostility toward the ruling Shiite elite that has dominated the government and the military since the ouster of Saddam Hussein by U.S.-led forces.

To contact the reporters on this story: Aziz Alwan in Baghdad at aalwan1@bloomberg.net; Donna Abu-Nasr in Beirut at dabunasr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net Mark Williams, Karl Maier

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Iraqs Abadi Removes 36 Commanders in Major Military Shake-Up