Death toll from IS-claimed bombing climbs to 142

The death toll from a suicide bombing in Baghdad this weekend has reached 292, Iraq’s health ministry said on Thursday.

Women react at the site after a suicide auto bomb attack at the shopping area of Karrada in Baghdad on July 4, 2016.

The previous death toll from the ministry, announced on Tuesday, was 250.

Small-scale bombings occur on a near-daily basis in Baghdad, and in May a string of large-scale bombings, many of them claimed by the Islamic State, killed more than 200 people in a single week.

In 2010, British authorities arrested the director of the British company ATSC Ltd. on fraud charges, prompting Iraqis to open their own investigation on alleged corruption charges against some officials.

A devastating bombing on Sunday in Karada, a predominantly Shia neighbourhood in central Baghdad, hit a crowded marketplace.

Mr. Abadi was met with an angry response when he visited the site of the attack on Sunday.

Observers said there could be more attacks against military targets and civilians in the future as the army advance to the last IS stronghold of Mosul.

In an embarrassing admission, the government has had to order security personnel to stop using bogus bomb detectors that, for years, have been widely known to be useless.

Mourners react during a funeral of a victim who was killed in a suicide auto bomb in the Karrada shopping area in Baghdad, during the funeral in Najaf, south of Baghdad, Iraq, July 3, 2016.

Many of those killed have had to be identified with DNA-testing because their bodies were burned beyond recognition.

Iraqis expressed their anger over the situation when Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and other officials attempted to survey the bomb damage.

Iraq’s interior minister resigned on Tuesday and said a deputy would take over his responsibilities, a few days after the deadliest of many vehicle bombings in Baghdad since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Al-Abadi issued a statement Sunday condemning the attack and describing the loss of life as a “painful tragedy” that “robbed Iraqis of the delight of their victories against the reprehensible (Islamic State group) in Fallujah”. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to talk to reporters.

The Pentagon had cautioned previously that the Islamic State group was likely to conduct these kinds of high-profile attacks as the terrorist group continues to lose territory in Iraq and Syria.

Mr al-Abadi ordered the installing of x-ray systems at the entrances of Iraqi provinces, an upgraded security belt around Baghdad, increased aerial scanning and stepped-up intelligence efforts.