Blast kills 24 in Baghdad market

BAGHDAD: An explosion tore through a market in a flashpoint Baghdad neighbourhood on Tuesday, killing at least 24 people and wounding dozens, many of them children, medical and defence officials said.

Yarmuk hospital received 24 dead, including four women and three children and six corpses burned beyond recognition and 39 wounded from the car bomb attack in Amil, in the southwest of the Iraqi capital, a medic said.

The vast majority of the wounded were women and children, added the hospital official, who asked not to be named. Defence and security officials put the toll at 25 dead and 60 wounded.

A violent mixed neighbourhood flanking the main road to the airport, Amil has been infiltrated by Shiite militia fighters and come under attack from Sunni insurgents. 

Bomb attacks on crowded marketplaces have been the hallmark of Sunni factions.

Three months into a city-wide security plan, US and Iraqi forces are battling to counter the threat by erecting blast walls at key locations.

Since February, thousands of extra US and Iraqi troops have poured into the city to try to end the sectarian battles tearing it apart. Baghdad has escaped a major car bomb attack since May 6.

In the east of the capital, a roadside bomb exploded on Tuesday next to a police patrol, killing one officer and wounding three others, according to both a security official and Al-Kindi hospital.