When Khalid Al Harbiya arrived at the Neurosurgery Teaching Hospital in Baghdad, none of the doctors had informed him his twelve-year old daughter Zynab had died.
He saw her lifeless body sprawled in the morgue after she was killed in a bombing by Islamic State terrorists who simultaneously attacked other parts of Iraq killing at least 35 and injuring over 100 people.
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Zynab's school says she was loved by her peers
Sirius College pays tribute to their student Zynab, the 12-year-old Australian girl who was killed near an ice-cream parlour in Iraq
"I started banging on my head… when I saw. It was so traumatic" he told Fairfax Media the day after burying her.
"May God avenge us from Daesh".
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(Daesh is the pejorative term used commonly in Arabic for IS.)
The Sunni hardline group has ramped up its attacks in recent days throughout the region as Muslims enter the first week of fasting for the holy month of Ramadan.
IS has been losing its territorial stronghold in Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, to Iraqi forces and Shiite paramilitary groups forcing it to intensify its suicide bombings targeting mostly Shi'a Iraqis.
Australian-born Zynab was visiting her family, especially her ailing grandfather, in Iraq for the fourth time during her short life.
She had been sitting in the back of a car in the sweltering Baghdad heat on the way to grab an ice cream to break her Ramadan fast along with her mother, two younger brothers, aunt and grandmother in the upmarket Karrada district teeming with cafes and shoppers, according to Khalid.
A car packed with explosives struck just after midnight near Al Faqma, a popular ice cream shop.
Harbiya's family, including his sister in law who sustained minor injuries, all survived except Zynab. Thirteen others were killed alongside her.
"It was such a brutal death. She was just a little girl, what has she ever done to anyone? She was not in the army or a fighter. They are criminals, they have no mercy, no humanity – they are monsters", the labourer from Thomastown in Victoria distressingly added on the line from Baghdad.
Videos posted on social media show carnage, billowing smoke and bodies littered across the bustling shopping area.
Harbiya, 41, who has been living in Australia for 20 years escaping the dictatorial reign of ousted autocrat Saddam Hussein, heard about the attack on Facebook. He hurriedly drove from Al Nasiriya, about five hours south of Baghdad, knowing that he might not see his family again.
"I was praying incessantly on the way saying God please make sure they are fine."
He had spoken briefly to Zynab a day before she was killed.
"She would always ring to check on me. She asked me if she can go buy the new IPhone 7 and I told her Ok darling. It was so quick".
He remembered her fondly as a caring and helpful youngster.
"Normally your child survives you not the other way around" he sobbingly recounted.
"From the day she was born until she died, she never gave me any trouble. She never cried… When we would go shopping, I would tell her 'what would you like?' and she would say 'whatever you want'. She had strong convictions and was creative".
Sirius College, Zynab's school in Melbourne, posted a message paying tribute to Harbiya noting the local community was "deeply saddened".
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop condemned the attack and said the family is being provided with consular assistance, which Harbiya confirmed and appreciated.
"We are heartened by the support from Australia. We are Muslims being targeted and these terrorists know no difference. We must stand together to fight against Daesh and terrorism"
Khalid's wife Habayeb has gone into shock over losing her daughter and his sons Haydar, 10, and Bilal, 7, are traumatised.
"They wanted to see their sister but we stopped them because the scene is too horrific" he told Fairfax while holding back his tears. "They are crying all the time saying we want our sister back".
IS militants hit the same district of Karrada in July 2016 with a truck bomb that killed at least 324 people, making it the deadliest attack in Iraq since the US led invasion of the country in March 2003.
He described a chaotic hospital with bodies being wheeled in and out by doctors and nurses amid anguished cries from families trying to identify if their children were killed.
Harbiya is unsure of when he will return to Australia as he deals with an anxious period of mourning for his daughter.
"She wanted to be a lawyer or a teacher or a doctor. She wanted to help people, I swear" he said. "She had a big heart".