77 killed in Baghdad bomb blasts

At least 55 people were killed and 105 wounded today when two car bombs and a bomb hidden in a plastic bag struck market districts in central Baghdad, police said.

Thunderous explosions and dense black smoke swirled through the centre of Baghdad today when at least one car bomb blew up in an underground car park, setting off dozens of secondary explosions and killing at least 59 people, police said.

A second bombing nearby killed at least nine. The blasts hit on the first anniversary, according to the Muslim lunar calendar, of the bombing last year of the important Shiite Golden Dome shrine in Samarra, north of the capital.