Thousands of Iraqis perform prayer at ISIL attack scene

Supporters of the Islamic State welcomed the attack online, but the group has not claimed responsibility, the BBC reported. The statement said other security and intelligence officials were also sacked, but did not specify who.

It killed 40 people and wounded 74, health ministry spokesman Ahmed al-Rudaini said.

A statement posted on his Facebook page on Friday said three top officials in charge of Baghdad’s security were sacked after a bombing killed almost 300 people.

It comes days after 292 people were killed in the worst single bombing in Baghdad since the fall of Saddam Hussein 13 years ago.

The site, the mausoleum of Sayid Mohammed bin Ali al-Hadi, is located in Balad, about 93km (58 miles) north of Iraq’s capital.

A suicide bomber first targeted police guarding the shrine’s entrance. A second bomber entered the shrine with nine gunmen, targeting security forces and civilians inside.

Abadi fired the commander of Baghdad Operations as well as remove the officials responsible for intelligence and security in the capital, a statement from his office said, as the embattled prime minister faced growing protests stemming from Sunday’s massive auto bombing, one of the deadliest since the 2003 USA -led invasion of Iraq.

The coordinated attacks at the site began late on Thursday night, according to Iraqi security services.

The attack occurred just days after a particularly deadly Islamic State attack left almost some 292 civilians dead in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

The militants also fired several mortar rounds at the mausoleum during the attack.

Prominent Shia cleric Muqtada al Sadr ordered the Peace Brigade, his militia, to deploy around the shrine.

The IS suicide bomber had detonated his explosives in Baghdad’s central Karada neighbourhood, outside a shopping mall in a street crammed with people preparing for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

An official from Mr Al Abadi’s office has said the premier has accepted Mr Ghabban’s resignation, but there has been no official confirmation. According to an official statement, those attackers reached the outside gate of the shrine, where security forces fired at them, causing two of the attackers to detonate their explosives in a market next to the shrine.