Photo: Agencies

BAGHDAD, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi pledged on Friday that Thursday's security breach of the twin suicide bombings in Baghdad "would not be repeated," stressing the need to urgently address the challenges facing the performance of the intelligence services.

A statement by his office said that al-Kadhimi's comments came during the extraordinary session of the Ministerial Council for National Security a day after the deadly twin suicide bombings in central Baghdad.

"What happened yesterday is a breach that we do not allow to be repeated. We promised our people to provide security," al-Kadhimi said.

Al-Kadhimi pointed out that the security services made great efforts during the past months and were able to carry out preemptive operations to thwart the almost daily attempts by the militants of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group to reach Baghdad, the statement said.

"There are challenges in the (performance of) intelligence services that must be addressed urgently, and I will personally supervise this issue," al-Kadhimi said.

On Thursday morning, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive belt in a bustling outdoor market for second-hand clothes in Bab al-Sharji area, and a second one blew himself up a few minutes later in the same market.

Later in the day, al-Kadhimi, also commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, chaired an emergency meeting with security and intelligence commanders to discuss the security breach in Baghdad.

Following Thursday's meeting, a statement by al-Kadhimi's media office said that al-Kadhimi launched an investigation into the incident and ordered to hunt down the terrorist cells that facilitated the arrival of the suicide bombers.

Moreover, al-Kadhimi sacked five security senior officials and commanders following the twin suicide bombings in Baghdad, according to a tweet by Yahia Rasoul, spokesman of the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces.

After years of deadly violence in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, massive suicide bombings have become rare in Baghdad, as the security situation has relatively improved in Iraq since the Iraqi security forces fully defeated IS militants across the country late in 2017.

However, sporadic deadly incidents still occur in the war-ravaged country as IS remnants have since melted into urban areas or deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians.