At least 25 people have been killed and another 60 were wounded in a car bomb attack in Baghdad.
The explosion tore through a market in a flashpoint neighbourhood in the southwest of the city.
The vast majority of people wounded were women and children.
Bomb attacks on crowded marketplaces have been the hallmark of Sunni factions. Three months into a citywide security plan, US and Iraqi forces are battling to counter the threat by building blast walls at key locations.
Since February, thousands of extra US and Iraqi troops have poured into the city to try to end the sectarian battles.
Shortly after today's car bomb, two mortars hit a teacher's college in Baghdad's northern Adhamiyah neighbourhood killing three people, according to security officials.
Outside the capital, gunmen opened fire on a car travelling near Khalis, north of Baghdad, killing a family of six. The gang had set up an illegal checkpoint and opened fire as the car approached, according to a local police officer.
One police officer was killed in a roadside bomb that exploded next to a police patrol in the east of the Baghdad. A security official said three more were injured.
And in the western Anbar province, US and Iraqi troops clashed with a local kidnapping gang, killing nine alleged insurgents and freeing 12 hostages.
