Death toll from Baghdad bombing nears 300 as seperate attack claims dozens more

The death toll from a huge truck bomb that went off in a busy shopping street in Baghdad has risen to 292 as dozens more die in new attack on shrine.

Iraqis gather at the scene of Sunday's massive truck bomb attack claimed by the Islamic State group in the Karada neighborhood, Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, July 7

Iraqis gather at the scene of Sunday's massive truck bomb attack claimed by the Islamic State group in the Karada neighborhood, Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, July 7 Source: AAP

Anger over the security situation in Iraq is mounting at the site of a massive truck bombing by the Islamic State group earlier this week, as a separate attack north of Baghdad has claimed the lives of dozens more.

The death toll from the suicide attack last Sunday - the deadliest attack in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion - has reached 292.

The attack, which has been claimed by the militant group Islamic State, which government forces are trying to eject from large parts of the north and west of the country, has stoked public unrest and spurred Iraqi officials to announce a number of new security measures.

But smaller scale bombings and attacks have persisted since then, the latest late on Thursday night when multiple suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a Shi'ite shrine in Balad north of Baghdad, killing 26 and wounding 52.
Earlier on Thursday, Iraqi hospital and police officials said their death toll from Sunday's Baghdad attack now stood at 186, with around 20 people still missing, as more remains were recovered from the rubble.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they are not authorised to talk to the media.

However, Ahmad Roudaini, from the Health Ministry's media office, said the ministry's death toll is 292.

Many of those killed have had to be identified with DNA-testing because their bodies were burned beyond recognition.

On Thursday evening, a crowd of angry friends and family members of the victims tried to push into one of the buildings hit in the truck bombing but civilian volunteers held them back.

The IS suicide bomber had detonated his explosives in Baghdad's central Karada neighbourhood, outside a shopping mall in a street crammed with people preparing for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

The area, packed with shops, cafes and restaurants, had swelled overnight with Baghdad residents eager from a respite from the daily fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.

Mustafa Hassan, one of the men gathered at the scene on Thursday, said he had volunteered to help sift through the debris after authorities failed to do so. Hassan, a young man wearing a surgical mask and gloves, held up two plastic bags that he believed contained charred human flesh.

Roudaini said the ministry of health continues to help transport the remains of the dead to Baghdad's forensic lab or to the city morgue, but he said the scale of the explosion has overwhelmed the teams who normally respond to such attacks.

"Till now there are maybe still some dead under the building, we don't know," Roudaini said.

Hundreds gathered in the street chanted religious slogans and waved Iraqi and Shi'ite militia flags.

Others gathered in Karada also blamed the government for failing to secure the city.

"People are getting more and more angry," said Hussein Samir, 24. "Every day that people have to think about this tragedy, it just makes them more upset."

After the Baghdad attack, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced new measures, including that much-disputed bomb-detection wands would no longer be used by security forces.


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Source: AAP


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