At least 10 Iraqis have been killed and around 40 others injured in a car-bomb blast in a public market in Hilla, 100km south of Baghdad.

Speaking to Aljazeera, Talib al-Janabi, an Iraqi journalist, said the explosion rocked central Hilla at 8.45am (0545 GMT) on Friday when the bomb placed inside a Mercedes was detonated by remote control.

At least 10 people, including three women and two children, were killed and 41 were wounded, said Dr Mohammed Beirum of Hilla General Hospital. 

Agencies reported that as Iraqi police and soldiers sealed off Al-Sharia vegetable market, emergency workers lifted wounded victims and dead bodies into ambulances from several streets covered with pools of blood and shattered vegetable stands.

Just a few days ago, al-Janabi pointed out, a bicycle bomb explosion in al-Maktabat Street in central Hilla had killed three people and injured more than 40 others.

Another car bombing took place on Friday at the gate of a US military base in Jbala area in al-Makhaweel town, 25km north of Hilla, al-Janabi reported.

Details awaited

Following the incident, US forces surrounded the area, closing all the entry points and preventing Iraqi forces from approaching the site, he said.

Details of US casualties have not been released, the Iraqi journalist said.

The explosion in the town followed a triple car-bomb attack in the mainly Shia town of Balad, 70km north of the capital on Thursday evening, which killed about 85 people and wounded more than 110.

Iraqi Healthy Ministry sources have now confirmed that about 85 were killed and more than 110 others were injured, according to al-Janabi.

In May, at least 25 former police commandos were killed and 100 wounded in a double bombing outside government offices in the town.

PHOTO CAPTION

A destroyed vehicle sits near a market after a car bomb exploded in the southern Iraq town of Hilla, 100 km south of Baghdad September 30, 2005. (Reuters)