Scores of people have been killed by a bomb in Baghdad's Sadr City just days before US combat troops are due to leave Iraq's major cities.
Police said that 72 people were killed and more than 100 people were injured in the blast at the popular Mraidi market on Wednesday.
The explosion, caused by a motorcycle rickshaw loaded with explosives and covered with fruit and vegetables, happened in the north Baghdad district at around 7.30pm (16:30GMT), according to one official.
The attacker got off his vehicle and managed to escape before the bomb went off, the official said, adding that women and children were among the casualties and dozens of market stalls were damaged.
"I heard a boom and saw a ball of fire," Najim Ali, a 30-year-old local who was shopping in the market, said. "I saw cars flying in the air because of the force of the explosion."
US withdrawal
The attack comes just four days after the US military formally handed control of Sadr City to local forces and six days before US combat troops are due to withdraw from other major Iraqi towns and cities on June 30.
"After hearing the explosion, I rushed to the market," Saif Mohammed, a 20-year-old Sadr City resident, said.
"Explosions like this confirm that the Iraqi security forces are not able to protect the people from violence or war."
Violence has dropped markedly in Iraq in recent months, with May seeing the lowest Iraqi death toll since the 2003 US-led invasion.
But attacks remain frequent: three school students died in another bombing in Sadr City on Monday, one of a string of blasts that killed 27 people across Iraq that day.
On Saturday, at least 73 people died in a suicide lorry bombing outside a mosque in Kirkuk province.
PHOTO CAPTION
Workers clean the site of a car bombing in central Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, June 22, 2009.
Agencies