BAGHDAD – Iraq have been banned from taking part in the Beijing Olympics because of a government decision to disband the country's National Olympic Committee, a senior official of the committee said on Thursday.

'This morning we were informed of the final decision of the International Olympic Committee to suspend the membership of the Iraqi Olympic Committee,' Hussein al-Amidi, the general secretary of the Iraqi Olympic Committee, said.

(Reporting by Waleed Ibrahim, Writing by Mohammed Abbas: Editing by Jon