BAGHDAD - The International Olympic Committee says Iraq will not compete at Beijing Olympics because of government interference.

Iraq has been banned because of a government decision to disband the country's National Olympic Committee after Baghdad dismissed elected officials and installed its own people who are not recognized by the IOC, a senior official of the committee said on Thursday.

The IOC decision culminates a drawn-out internal feud in Iraq that many see as an extension of Shiite payback to Sunnis who once held a cozy niche in Saddam Hussein's regime.