45 dead in market car bomb blast

A parked car bomb struck a popular market in the Shiite slum of Sadr City, killing at least 45 people and wounding 46, police said.

News footage showed a huge plume of grey smoke rising from the scene and flames shooting through the windows of several scorched cars.

The explosion, which occurred at 10am, also devastated several shops in the sprawling district in eastern Baghdad, police Colonel Hassan Jaloob said.

A spokesman for the Imam Ali Hospital in Sadr City said at least 35 people were killed and 46 wounded.

Police later raised the death toll to 45.