Baghdad bombing death toll climbs to 250: Health ministry

The death toll from Sunday’s suicide car bombing in a central neighbourhood of Baghdad has risen to 250, Iraq’s health ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The attack on shopping crowds in the Karrada district, which was claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, has become the deadliest incident in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein but tipped the country into bloody sectarian conflict.

Interior Minister Mohammed Ghab on Tuesday submitted his resignation amid widespread anger among Iraqis who complain that the government is not doing enough to protect them.

Ghab said that the bomber had probably passed through a security checkpoint, but admitted that most checkpoints in the Iraqi capital were “absolutely useless”.

Hundreds of Iraqis protested on Sunday when Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi visited the bomb scene, which is across the Tigris river from the fortified Green Zone district that houses the government, with some throwing projectiles at his convoy and forcing Abadi to flee. 

One source of complaint has been the continuing use of fake bomb detectors years after a British man who sold them to the Iraqi government was jailed for fraud in the UK after the devices were found to be useless.

IS has waged a campaign of bombings targeting predominantly Shia areas in recent weeks as an offensive by Iraqi security forces and allied militias has wrenched territory from its grasp in the west of the country including the city of Fallujah.

Karrada is a majority Shia neighbourhood and was once home to a Christian community but is a popular shopping spot for all Iraqis.

Crowds gathered at the scene of the bombing on Tuesday night, lighting candles for the victims.