More than half of the victims were pulled from the rubble and dust of around 70 clay brick homes that were flattened in the explosion near the northern city of Kirkuk, said Brigadier General Najeh Mohammed, the local head of civil defence.
“We expect that there are still some dead bodies under the rubble. But the chances are less than before,” said Mohammed
.
A survivor of the powerful explosion, Askar Zaman, said 10 of his relatives were killed, including sons and grandsons. Another, Hussein Azab, said he lost eight members of his family.
Black flags and banners of mourning fluttered from poles all over the Shi’ite Muslim village of Taza and the victims were swiftly buried in the same part of the local cemetery.
Major-General Turhan Abdul Rahman, deputy chief commander of police in Kirkuk province, said the death toll from Saturday’s blast had climbed to 73, making it the deadliest attack in Iraq since female suicide bombers killed 99 people in a Baghdad pet market in February last year.
Thirty-five children and 15 women were among the dead in the Kirkuk attack. More than 250 people were wounded.
