A massive car bomb ripped through a used car market in southern Baghdad Thursday (February 16th), killing at least 45 people in the deadliest such attack this year, AFP reported.
The Amaq propaganda agency linked to the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL), which has claimed nearly all such attacks recently, reported the blast.
Mobile phone footage circulated on social media showed charred bodies and extensive destruction in the al-Bayaa neighbourhood where the explosion went off around 4:15 pm.
"A terrorist car bomb attack struck near car dealerships in al-Bayaa and resulted in the deaths of 45 people," a spokesman for the Baghdad Operations Command said in a statement.
An interior ministry official gave the same figure and said at least 60 people were also wounded.
He said the emergency services were struggling to cope with the scope of the attack and warned that the death toll may rise.
The explosion occurred in the same al-Bayaa neighbourhood in southern Baghdad where a car bomb blast killed at least six people on Tuesday.
