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Iraq’s Interior Minister Resigns as Baghdad Death Toll Reaches 250

Mr Biden is said to have reaffirmed “the unwavering commitment of the United States to help Iraq defeat ISIL so that all Iraqis may live in peace and stability”.

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Iraq’s al-Forat news agency quoted a source close to the prime minister as saying that Abadi had accepted Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban’s resignation.

A series of attacks, most linked to the Islamic State group, has killed almost 350 people in eight countries during the holy month of Ramadan.

The army, federal and local police, and government-sanctioned Shiite militias share security responsibility, manning checkpoints throughout the city.

Like Sunni jihadist groups, Isis considers the Shia Muslim sect heretical and has made its followers the main target of its attacks in Iraq. At least 185 people were wounded.

“I utterly condemn this latest horrendous Isis atrocity, targeting innocent civilians who were celebrating Ramadan in the heart of Baghdad”, Mr al-Hussein said.

“Abadi has to have a meeting with the heads of national security, intelligence, the interior ministry and all sides responsible for security and ask them just one question: How can we infiltrate these groups”, said Abdul Kareem Khalaf, a former police Major General who advises the Netherlands-based European Centre for Counterterrorism and Intelligence Studies think tank.

During his visit to the explosion site in Karrada on Sunday morning, Abadi vowed to punish those behind the attacks, according to a statement issued by his office.

The number of people killed in Sunday’s suicide bomb attack in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, now exceeds 220, with hundreds of others injured.

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IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained significant territory from the jihadists.

Mohammed Ghabban