Baghdad bombing: Death toll rises to 165 in single Isis attack on Iraqi capital

People gather at the site of a suicide car bomb in the Karada shopping area, in Baghdad, Iraq, 3 July, 2016 (Reuters)

The death toll from an Isis bomb attack on a commercial district of Baghdad has risen to 165, according to officials.

With a conflicting toll from the AFP news agency suggesting more than 200 could have been killed, the lorry bomb attack may rank as the deadliest single bombing in Isis's history.

Police and health officials said on Monday that rescuers are still looking for people missing in the rubble. At least 185 people were wounded.

Isis claimed the attack, whicch took place in a commercial area of the Shia-dominated Karada district, saying it had deliberately targeted Shia Muslims as they broke fast during Ramadan.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has ordered new security measures in the country's capital, and that a scandal-ridden bomb detection device be pulled from service.

Officials said the bombing was the deadliest terror attack in Iraq in a year and one of the worst single bombings in more than a decade of war and insurgency.

Iraqi and foreign officials have linked the recent increase in IS attacks —especially large-scale suicide bombings — with the string of losses the Islamic State group has faced on the battlefields across Iraq over the past year.