Baghdad Bombing Death Toll Reaches 250

TIME Staff
Updated
The atrocity has now become the deadliest attack on Iraqi civilians since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003

The weekend bombing in Baghdad has now become the deadliest attack on Iraqi civilians since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, with the death toll rising to 250, according to multiple media reports.

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the atrocity, which occurred in a crowded shopping area of the Iraqi capital’s Karrada district, when a suicide bomber detonated a truckload of explosives. Karrada is home to many Christians and Shi‘ite Muslims.

Iraq’s Interior Minister Mohammed Ghabban resigned Wednesday, according to a post on his Facebook page cited by the Australian Associated Press. Furious Iraqis have denounced the inability of the state to maintain security amid ongoing ISIS bombings in the capital.