Baghdad mourns as suicide attack toll rises
Print Edition
IRAQIS yesterday mourned more than 200 people killed in a Baghdad suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group and accused the government of not doing enough to protect them.
The search continued for bodies at the site of the attack, which ripped through the Karrada district early on Sunday as it teemed with shoppers ahead of this week’s holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced efforts to address longstanding security flaws in Baghdad following the blast, which came a week after Iraqi forces recaptured the city of Fallujah from IS.
But on the streets, Iraqis were angry at the government's inability to keep residents safe, even as its forces push IS back outside the capital.
“I swear to God, the government is a failure,” said a woman who gave her name as Umm Alaa, who lost her apartment in the attack.
IS “tactics are changing. Why does the Iraqi government have fixed tactics?” a man asked at the site of the bombing, criticizing the government’s “stupid checkpoints” and use of fake bomb detectors.
And Inam al-Zubaidi said she came to the site to offer condolences to “the families of the martyrs, who fell in this place because of the failed government.”
As Iraq marked three days of national mourning, security and medical officials said the number of dead from the attack had risen to at least 213. More than 200 were wounded, they said. In Karrada, a young man lit a candle on a staircase leading to the basement of one charred building, adding to dozens of others left by mourners at the site of the bombing, which sparked infernos in nearby buildings.
Down the stairs, young men dug through the ashes using shovels and their hands, searching for those still missing after the blast.
Black banners bearing the names of victims — including multiple members of some families — hung from burned buildings, announcing the dates and locations of their funerals.
Abadi was met with an angry response when he visited the site of the attack on Sunday, with one video showing men throwing rocks at what was said to be the premier’s convoy, while a man could be heard cursing at him in another clip.
But the premier struck a conciliatory tone.
“I understand the emotional feelings and actions that occurred in a moment of sadness and anger,” Abadi said.
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