74 killed in Baghdad car bomb carnage

BAGHDAD: Two car bombs ripped through a second-hand market in a poor district of Baghdad on Monday, killing 74 Iraqis in the latest carnage unleashed in the capital despite a new make-or-break US security plan.

The bombs exploded seconds apart in the Haraj market shortly after midday, sending twin columns of thick smoke billowing from the Bab al-Sharki district on the east bank of the Tigris River.

It was the deadliest attack in the capital this year, coming less than a week after a bombing outside a Baghdad university killed 70 people, mostly students.

Monday's blasts were followed by sporadic gunfire in the ethnically mixed Bab al-Sharki district, one of the poorest in the city and which has already been a repeated target of attacks.

Hospital and security sources put the number of dead at 74 and between 100 and 160 wounded in the Haraj market, which is filled with traders selling used electronic goods, watches, clothing and medicines.