As Baghdad protests mount, attack on Shiite shrine kills 26

Associated Press

BAGHDAD

Protests and anger over the security situation in Iraq mounted Thursday at the site of a massive truck bombing by the Islamic State group earlier this week in Baghdad that killed scores as the death toll continued to rise and a separate attack north of Baghdad killed dozens more.

The Baghdad attack Sunday – the deadliest attack in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion – has stoked public unrest and spurred Iraqi officials to announce a number of new security measures. However, smaller-scale bombings and attacks have persisted in the days that followed.

Late Thursday night, an attack carried out by multiple suicide bombers and gunmen on a Shiite shrine in Balad, north of Baghdad, killed 26 and wounded 52, according to Iraqi police and hospital officials.

Earlier Thursday, Iraqi hospital and police officials said their death toll from Sunday’s Baghdad attack now stood at 186, with about 20 people still missing, as more remains were recovered from the rubble.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to talk to the media.

However, Ahmad Roudaini, from the Health Ministry’s media office, said the ministry’s death toll is 292.

The discrepancies in the numbers could not immediately be reconciled. Many of those killed have had to be identified with DNA-testing because their bodies were burned beyond recognition.