Updated ta 3.30pm

HILLA: A car bomb ripped through a popular market killing eight people in a village just south of the Iraqi capital on Sunday, security officials said.   

The bomb, which also wounded 28 people, exploded in the main market of the mixed Sunni-Shiite village of Haswa, between the restive town of Mahmudiyah and the provincial seat of Hilla.   

The agricultural belt south of the capital, inhabited by Shiite villagers and Sunni tribes, has become notorious for sectarian battles.