Protests, vigils held at Baghdad bombing site

Large crowds of angry and grieving Iraqis filled the streets of Baghdad's Karrada district on Sunday night where an Islamic State suicide car bomber killed more than 100 people the night before and wounded over 100 others.

People chanted against government corruption – which they blame for repeated security breaches in the capital – while others lit candles and said prayers at the scene of the deadly bombing.

The defiant crowds also vowed to sacrifice their "souls and blood" to protect their country and people against IS.

Earlier in the day, locals had attacked the motorcade of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi with rocks and plastic bottles as he tried to visit the scene of the blast in Karrada.

It reflects the growing frustration with the government's inability to stamp out corruption.

Abadi announced three days of national mourning and vowed to avenge the victims.

The attack, which is one of the deadliest to hit the Iraqi capital, took place on a busy shopping street packed with customers preparing for the Muslim Eid festival, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

The large explosion set several buildings ablaze, including a bustling shopping centre that was completely destroyed by the inferno.

A member of the civil defence forces said that it would take "a number of days" to recover the bodies of the victims.

Hussein Ali, a 24-year-old former soldier, said six workers at his family's shop were killed, their bodies so badly burned they could not be identified.

"I will return to the battlefront. At least there, I know the enemy so I can fight him. But here, I don't know who I'm fighting," Ali told AFP.

Funeral processions crisscrossed the streets of Karrada throughout the day before heading to the city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, where many Shia Muslims bury their dead.

IS said the bombing targeted members of Iraq's Shia Muslim majority, whom it considers heretics and frequently attacks in Baghdad and elsewhere.

Officials said another explosion in Baghdad's Shaab area killed at least one person and wounded four on Sunday, but the cause of the blast was disputed.