BY SINAN SALAHEDDIN
BAGHDAD (AP) — The death toll from the truck bombing at a bustling Baghdad commercial street rose to 149 on Monday, Iraqi authorities said, as Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered new security measures in the capital.
The bombing early Sunday, claimed by the Islamic State group, was the deadliest terror attack in Iraq in a year and one of the worst single bombings in more than a decade of war and insurgency. It underscored the IS group’s ability to strike the Iraqi capital despite a string of battlefield losses elsewhere in the country and fueled public anger toward the government.
The suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden vehicle in Baghdad’s mostly Shiite Karada district, a favorite avenue for shoppers – especially during the holy month of Ramadan, with the streets and sidewalks filled with young people and families after they had broken their daylight fast.
Police and health officials said Monday the toll reached 149 but that it was likely to increase even further as rescuers are still looking for missing people. At least 192 people were wounded, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
Hours after the bombing, al-Abadi visited the attack site in Karada, but a furious mob surrounded his convoy, yelling expletives, hurling rocks and shoes and calling him a “thief.”
In a statement issued later Sunday, al-Abadi ordered that a scandal-ridden bomb detection device be pulled from service. He also ordered the reopening of an investigation on the procurement of the British-made electronic wands, called ADE 651s.
In 2010, British authorities arrested the director of the British company ATSC Ltd. on fraud charges, prompting Iraqis to open their own investigation into alleged corruption. Iraqi authorities made some arrests, but the investigation went nowhere and the device remained in use.
Along with taking away the electronic wand detectors, al-Abadi also ordered that X-ray systems be installed at the entrances of provinces. He demanded the upgrades of the capital’s security belt, increased aerial scanning and stepped-up intelligence efforts.
Iraqi and foreign officials have linked the recent increase in IS attacks -especially large-scale suicide bombings – with the string of battlefield losses the extremist group has faced over the past year.
Iraqi security forces, supported by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, have retaken the cities of Tikrit, Ramadi and Fallujah.
At the height of the extremist group’s power in 2014, IS had deprived the government of control of nearly one third of Iraqi territory. Now the militants are estimated to control only 14 percent, according to the prime minister’s office. IS still controls Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city.
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Associated Press writer Murtada Faraj in Baghdad contributed to this report.