Baghdad bombing death toll rises to 292: Health ministry

Iraqis laying flowers at the site of a suicide bombing in Baghdad's Karrada district, on July 6, 2016. PHOTO: AFP

BAGHDAD (REUTERS) - The death toll from a suicide bombing in Baghdad this weekend has reached 292, Iraq's Health Ministry said on Thursday (July 7).

The attack, claimed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant group which government forces are trying to eject from large parts of the north and west of the country, was the deadliest bombing in Iraq since US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein 13 years ago.

More than 200 people were wounded in the attack in a busy shopping street in the mainly Shi'ite Karrada district of central Baghdad. About 23 of the wounded were still in hospital, health ministry spokesman Ahmed al-Rudaini told Reuters.

Earlier on Thursday, the ministry had put the toll at 281 and it rose as more people, registered as missing, were identified as dead, Rudaini said.

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