Fifty people have been killed and scores wounded after a suicide bomber detonated a pick-up truck near a crowd of casual labourers in Baghdad.

Police said more than 140 people were also injured when the truck exploded at 7am (04:00GMT) on Tuesday in Tayran Square.

Tradesmen and casual labourers looking for work regularly gather in the square and many had approached the vehicle to do just that before it exploded.

A roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi police patrol an hour-and-a-half later and third blast rocked the city centre after that.
 
No casualties were reported from the two later incidents.

The attack in the Rusafa district of the city is at least the fourth on mainly Shia day-labourers in the same spot this year.

Using a truck to attract labourers is a tactic that has been used before.

"They came like bees to honey," an interior ministry official said, and then the truck exploded.

Baghdad is currently the scene of a cycle of revenge attacks between Sunni and Shia groups, with the use of car bombs increasing.

The UN estimates that more than 100 Iraqis are being killed across the country every day, many from sectarian-related attacks.

 Photo Caption

Destroyed buildings after bombings