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.

That attack by al Qaida in Iraq militants ignited a wave of bloodletting in Baghdad and much of central Iraq.

Ambulances and pick-up trucks took many of the wounded to nearby al-Kindi hospital in the largely Shiite region.

Police said at least 59 people were killed and 148 wounded, warning the toll was likely to rise as more bodies were pulled from the rubble.

About half-an-hour earlier, a bomb hidden in a bag exploded in a crowded area near a popular take-away restaurant in the Bab al-Sharqi area, not far from Shorja, police said, adding that at least nine people were killed and 19 wounded in that blast.