Washington, Feb. 20 (Reuters): The CIA has recently removed its top officer in Baghdad because of questions about his ability to lead the station there, the Los Angeles Times reported today.

US intelligence sources also told the newspaper that the spy agency has also closed several satellite bases in Afghanistan because of security concerns.

Some current and former CIA officials, who requested anonymity, told the daily the agency was stretched thin as it searches for al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, confronts insurgency in Iraq and tries to cultivate ties to warlords in Afghanistan. A CIA spokesman could not be immediately reached for a comment on the report. A senior US official told the Times the CIA station chief in Baghdad was removed in December after deadly attacks against US forces and Iraqi civilian targets.

“There was just a belief that it was a huge operation and we needed a very senior, experienced person to run it,” the official told the Times.

According to a US official cited by the daily, the CIA’s Baghdad station is now the largest in the agency’s history.