At least 132 people have been killed in a number of car bomb and mortar blasts in the Shia Sadr City area of the Iraqi capital, security sources say.
More than 140 people have been killed in a wave of car bomb and mortar blasts in the Shia Sadr City area of the Iraqi capital, security sources say.
Details are sketchy, but a further 200 were reportedly wounded in one of most devastating series of attacks since the US-led invasion in March 2003.
Details are sketchy, but a further 200 were reportedly wounded in one of the most devastating series of attacks since the US-led invasion in 2003.
In one incident a car exploded at a food market which is a regular target of mainly Sunni Muslim insurgents.
In one incident a car exploded at a food market which is a regular target of mainly Sunni Muslim insurgents.
Elsewhere, gunmen attacked the health ministry, sparking battles with guards.
Elsewhere, gunmen attacked the health ministry, sparking battles with guards.
In the first explosion at about 1500 local time, a car exploded in the Jamila food market, where eyewitnesses told reporters burned bodies and human flesh littered the ground.
Panic
In the first blast at about 1500 local time, a car exploded in the Jamila food market, where eyewitnesses told reporters burned bodies and human flesh littered the ground.
It was followed by two other blasts at 15-minute intervals, the BBC's David Loyn in Baghdad says.
It was followed by two other blasts at 15-minute intervals, the BBC's David Loyn in Baghdad says.
The vegetable market had been packed with shoppers buying provisions ahead of the Friday holiday.
The bomb went off in an area where people gather to pick up the minibuses that operate as taxis in the city.
The scale of attack caused a fierce fire and immediate panic in the poor Shia region in the east of Baghdad.
The number of casualties put major pressure on transport and hospitals.
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