Gunmen sprayed grenades and automatic weapons fire in a market south of Baghdad, killing at least 50 people, mostly Shiites yesterday.

A SUICIDE car bomber attacked a hospital in central Iraq yesterday while US troops were handing out toys to children, killing 30 people, including four police guards, three women and two children, officials said.

A car bomb detonated outside a hospital in the centre of a town south of Baghdad today, killing 30 and wounding 35.

A roadside bomb that missed a passing US military convoy killed seven Iraqis and injured one south of Baghdad today, police and hospital sources said.

Four buses carrying pilgrims to the Iraqi holy city of Karbala plunged into a river today, killing 18 people on board.