Iraq PM sacks security chiefs as new attack kills 40

Iraqi policemen inspect the aftermath scene of a mortar and bombing attack on the Sayyid Mohammed shrine in the Balad area, located 70 kilometres north of Baghdad, on July 8, 2016. Ahmad Al Rubaye / Show more

Baghdad // Prime minister Haider Al Abadi on Friday sacked three Baghdad security chiefs following a devastating ISIL bombing in the capital, hours after the extremist group killed at least 40 people in another attack on a Shiite shrine north of the capital.

Mr Al Abadi’s issued an order to relieve Baghdad’s operations commander of his position, as well as the officials responsible for intelligence and security in the capital, his office said.

Anger against the government is running high after the car bombing last Sunday that killed at least 292 people.

That attack was followed on Thursday night by mortar fire on the Sayyid Mohammed shrine and a nearby market in Balad, 80 kilometres north of Baghdad.

A suicide bomber first targeted police guarding the shrine’s entrance. That allowed allowing a second bomber to push into the courtyard with nine gunmen who targeted security forces and civilians gathered inside to celebrate Eid AL Fitr.

A third bomber was killed before he detonated his explosives, police said.

The attack also sparked a fire that caused heavy damage to a market near the shrine.

The health ministry said 40 people were killed and 74 wounded in the attack.

Iraq has seen an increasing number of bombing attacks on civilians as ISIL loses ground to government forces.

The interior minister Mohammed Ghabban tendered his resignation over Sunday’s bombing, but the removal of the Baghdad operations commander Lt Gen Abdulamir Al Shimmari and other officials are the first sackings since the attack.

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.

There has also been anger over the delay in identifying the victims from Sunday’s bombing.

Only 115 bodies have been handed over to their families, Iraqi health minister Adila Hamoud said on Thursday, while the identities of 177 others have yet to be determined.

Also on Thursday, police Maj Gen Talib Khalil Rahi said the suicide bomber detonated a minibus loaded with plastic explosives and ammonium nitrate, the first time authorities provided details about the bomb used in the attack.

The initial blast killed a limited number of people, but flames spread and trapped people inside shopping centres that lacked emergency exits, Maj Gen Rahi said.

The death toll is among the highest in a bombing attack in Iraq, and experts have warned there may be more bombings as ISIL continues to lose ground to Iraqi forces.

The extremists were pushed out of Fallujah last month after holding the city just west of Baghdad for more than two years. Despite a series of defeats, ISIL stills hold pockets of territory in northern and western Iraq, including the second-largest city of Mosul.

* Agence France-Presse and Associated Press