Heartbreaking image of a badly burned girl who survived an ISIS suicide attack captures the agony of Iraq
Four-year-old Asal suffered extensive burns to her face but returned to the scene of the bombing while being carried in her father's arms for a candlelight vigil for nearly 300 victims
STARING into the camera, this little girl with her face entirely wrapped in white bandages epitomises the agony caused by ISIS.
Asal Ahmed, who is only four-years-old, was pictured at the scene of a deadly suicide truck bomb attack in Iraq's capital city of Baghdad on Saturday.
According to The Associated Press, Asal and her mum were badly burned as they shopped in Karrada for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, when the streets were filled with young people and families.
In the photo, she can be seen carried by her father for a candlelit vigil to victims but it is not known whether her mother survived the attack.
Nearly 300 people were killed and another 200 were wounded - making the bombing the single deadliest in the nation since US-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein 13 years ago.
Many of the victims were women and children who were inside a multi-storey shopping centre and dozens burned to death or suffocated, a police officer said.
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The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS), which holds territory in Iraq, claimed responsibility for that attack.
They urged its followers to attack "infidels everywhere" during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Iraq’s deadliest single bombing in 13 years of war has turned the Baghdad district where it took place into the centrepiece in an increasingly bitter rivalry between the country’s prime minister and Iranian-backed Shiite militias eager to hold sway over the city’s most diverse and prosperous area.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi condemned the attack and has ordered new security measures in Baghdad, as well as declaring three days of mourning in the wake of its aftermath.
Many people were left angry at the government's failure to protect them after the devastating bombing blaming the lack of security through checkpoints that allowed the explosives to make their way into neighbourhoods.
ISIS has been weakened in Iraq and Syria in recent months because of battlefield losses and desertions.
Iraqi politician Mowaffak Baqer al-Rubaie believes they are "resorting to classic, traditional terrorist acts" in response to losing territory in Iraq.
He told : "They are so desperate to boost the morale of their fighters, many of whom are leaving the group daily. I think attacks like this will increase.";