by WorldTribune Staff, July 4, 2016
The death toll from an Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) car bombing in Baghdad on July 3 has risen to over 200.
Iraqi security and medical officials said 213 people were killed in the blast that was set off in a busy shopping area of the capital’s Karrada district during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which ends this week.
ISIL said in a statement that it continues to target Iraq’s Shia population. The terror group views Shia Muslims to be heretics.
As citizens increasingly voice their outrage over the government’s handling of such attacks, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered a new set of security measures including X-ray systems to be placed at the entrances to provinces, along with additional aerial scanning and greater intelligence to combat attacks.
When he visited the site of the ISIL attack on July 3, angry Iraqis threw rocks and shoes at Abadi’s security detail.
The July 3 attack came just weeks after Iraqi security forces, backed by the U.S.-led coalition, liberated the western city of Fallujah from ISIL and began to advance plans for an offensive on the northern city of Mosul, ISIL’s main stronghold in Iraq.