12 people have been killed and 40 injured after a car bomb exploded in a livestock market in Iraq's southern Babil province.
The attack happened in the city of Hamza, which is 130km south of Baghdad.
The region had been relatively peaceful for months.
It is not immediately clear which militant group is responsible for the blast in the Babil province, which has a mixed Sunni Arab and Shia population.
US troops currently play a low-key role in southern Iraq after handing over the main responsibility for security to Iraqi forces.
As the US prepares to withdraw combat troops from Iraq by 31 August 2010 and to leave the country completely by the end of 2011, US and Iraqi forces are preparing Iraqi military and police to handle all threats.
