Three near-simultaneous car bombs have exploded at crowded market places in eastern Baghdad's Sadr City district, killing at least 41 people and wounding 45.
The blasts in the sprawling Shia district came during late afternoon rush hour, an interior ministry official said.
The first explosion occurred at around 2.30pm Irish time, with the second and third bombs exploding within minutes.
Sadr City was once one of the Iraqi capital's most violent areas until a joint US and Iraqi military campaign last year brought relative peace to the area.
Today's bombings come amid the worst wave of violence to hit Iraq this year, including a devastating attack last week by two women who blew themselves up in a market in the capital, killing at least 65 people.
