A bomb blew up a kerosene tanker truck in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood on Saturday, killing at least 32 people, police said.

Another 38 people were wounded by the 10 a.m. blast in the sprawling Shiite slum. People frantically carried survivors from the narrow muddy street to ambulances, and hauled away bodies in blankets.

The bomb was hidden in a barrel near the tanker truck, where scores of people were waiting to buy fuel, said police Col. Saad Abdul-Sada.

There were more people on hand than usual as families sought to stock up on fuel for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, he said.

Seventeen women were among the dead, Abdul-Sada said, adding that casualties were expected to rise.

Sadr City is home to more than two million people and a stronghold of the Mahdi army — a Shiite militia loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

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