The attack, claimed by Islamic State militants, which the government is battling in the country’s north and west, was the deadliest of the many auto bombings in Baghdad since the 2003 US-led invasion, deepening the anger of many Iraqis over the weak performance of the security apparatus.
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The death toll in the suicide bombing at a shopping complex last weekend in Baghdad rose again Thursday, although Iraqi officials gave different numbers.
Iraqis grieve during the funeral procession of bomb victim, Akram Hadi, 24, who was killed in a massive truck bomb attack in the Karada neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, July 5, 2016.
Dozens of people gathered outside, many of them friends or relatives of missing. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to talk to the media.
Abadi was met with an angry response when he visited the site on Sunday, with one video showing men throwing rocks at what was said to be his convoy, while a man could be heard cursing him in another clip.
The large-scale attack occurs in the wake of ISIS’s forced retreat from the western city of Fallujah last month, the result of a massive offensive carried out mostly by Shia militias backed by Iraqi Army forces and US coalition air support.
The worst of the two attacks took place early Sunday morning in the largely Shiite Muslims Karada neighborhood, when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives amid crowds of people gathering to break their Ramadan fast and watching the Euro Cup.
A general view of the site after a suicide vehicle bomb attack at the shopping area of Karrada, a largely Shi’ite district, in Baghdad, Iraq July 4, 2016.
Al-Abadi on Monday also ordered security forces to stop using a handheld electronic device that was widely sold as a bomb detector but has been repeatedly branded bogus by technical experts. Despite warnings that the devices were useless, the Iraqi security forces continued to use them.
Al-Abadi also ordered that X-ray systems be installed at the entrances of provinces. He demanded the upgrades of the capital’s security belt, increased aerial scanning, a step-up in intelligence efforts and the division of responsibility among various security units.
As we reported Sunday, “The so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement, though NPR was not able to independently verify the claim”.
Iraqis were still recovering bodies from the site of Sunday’s truck bombing in the center of the capital – the single deadliest attack claimed by the Islamic State group worldwide.
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The attack demonstrated the Islamic State’s ability to strike the capital despite a string of defeats on the battlefield, including the loss of Fallujah just over a week ago. IS militants still control Iraq’s second-largest northern city of Mosul, north of Baghdad.
