HILLA, Iraq - Hundreds of angry Iraqis protested in Hilla for the second day on Wednesday, demanding the resignation of local officials after a devastating car bomb attack in the city killed 118 people.
The government declared a day of mourning over the attack, the deadliest since the US-led invasion of March 2003.
Some 300 people gathered in front of provincial governor Walid Janabi's offices in Hilla calling for him and others responsible for security to step down.
The demonstrators, including relatives of the victims and members of civic and political groups, also demanded that those responsible be punished.
On Monday, a suicide bomber struck a crowd of former civil servants lining up outside a health center for medical checkups as part of job applications.
Many in this predominantly Shiite Muslim city of half a million people, 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Baghdad, blamed Sunni militants for the attack.
The group of Al-Qaeda's frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility, according to a statement posted on an Islamist website Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Al-Iraqiya state television announced that interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi had declared a day of mourning throughout Iraq on Wednesday and ordered that the families of victims be given compensation.
It said 1.5 million dinars (about 1,000 dollars) would be paid for each person killed and 750,000 dinars for each person wounded.
03/02/2005 11:39 GMT