AFP, Baghdad:Iraq begins three days of national mourning on Monday for over 200 people killed by a suicide bombing in a busy Baghdad shopping district claimed by the militant Islamic State (IS) group, the deadliest attack in the capital this year.At least 213 people were killed in Sunday’s Baghdad suicide bombing claimed by IS, officials said, making it one of the deadliest ever militant attacks in Iraq.The suicide car bombing, which ripped through a crowded shopping area and sparked infernos in nearby buildings, also wounded more than 200 people, security and medical officials told AFP on MondayThe blast hit the Karrada district early Sunday as the area was packed with shoppers ahead of this week’s holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramazan.Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced three days of national mourning for the victims as he visited the site of the attack, and his office said he had vowed to “punish” the perpetrators. He also ordered changes to Baghdad security measures in response to the bombing, which security officials said killed at least 213 people and wounded more than 200.The attack came a week after Iraqi security forces recaptured Fallujah from IS, leaving Mosul as the only Iraqi city under the jihadist group’s control.The blast set buildings ablaze, and crowds of people watched from the rubble-filled street as emergency personnel carried out victims and worked on the site.A member of the civil defence forces said it would take “a number of days” to recover the bodies of the victims.Hussein Ali, a 24-year-old former soldier, said six workers at his family’s shop were killed, their bodies so badly burned they could not be identified.”I will return to the battlefront. At least there, I know the enemy so I can fight him. But here, I don’t know who I’m fighting,” Ali told AFP.IS issued a statement claiming responsibility for the suicide bombing, saying it was carried out by an Iraqi as part of “ongoing security operations”.The militant group said the blast targeted Iraq’s Shia majority, whom the extremists frequently attack in Baghdad and elsewhere.UN Iraq envoy Jan Kubis condemned the “cowardly and heinous act of unparalleled proportions,” calling on authorities to bring those responsible to justice.Officials said another explosion in the Shaab area of northern Baghdad killed at least one person and wounded four on Sunday, but the cause of the blast was disputed. Bombings in the capital have decreased since IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in June 2014, with the militants apparently more concerned with operations elsewhere.But the group has struck back against Iraqi civilians after suffering military setbacks, and in May, Baghdad was rocked by a series of blasts that killed more than 150 people in seven days.A video posted on social media showed men – apparently angry at the government’s failure to prevent the carnage in Karrada – throwing rocks at what was said to be Abadi’s convoy.
