Death Toll in Baghdad Car Bombing Climbs to 324
Ahmed Rasheed
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A girl walks past the site after a suicide car bomb attack at the shopping area of Karrada, a largely Shi'ite district, in Baghdad, Iraq July 4, 2016. Credit: Reuters/Ahmed Saad
Baghdad: The death toll from a suicide bombing in central Baghdad on July 3 has reached 324 and might climb further, Iraq's health minister said on Sunday.
The attack, claimed by the militant group ISIS whose fighters government forces are trying to eject from large parts of the north and west, was the deadliest bombing in Iraq since US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein 13 years ago.
The toll could climb further as forensic teams are still working to identify bodies, the minister, Adela Hmoud, said.
ISIS has lost ground in Iraq since last year to US-backed government forces and Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias.
But the deadly July 3 bombing in a commercial street of the mainly Shi'ite Karrada district of central Baghdad showed it can still strike in the capital.
On July 7, the ministry put the toll at 292. But it has risen as more people, initially registered as missing, were identified as among the dead, Hmoud said.
(Reuters)
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