Twenty-five people were killed and 60 wounded when a car bomb exploded in a market in southwestern Baghdad today, police said.
At least two buildings were destroyed and many others badly damaged when the bomb went off near a popular outdoor market in Amil, a mostly Shia district.
Television footage showed cars and shops on fire and a huge crater in the main street. Residents carrying buckets of water rushed to help firefighters douse blazes on either side of the street.
Today's bombing in Amil resulted in the largest death toll in a single attack for more than a week.
The Iraqi parliament was due to sit today to discuss several important issues including constitutional reform, one of Washington's benchmarks.
Sunni Arabs, who make up the backbone of the insurgency, have long demanded changes to a constitution they say concedes too much power to Shias and ethnic Kurds.
Non-Arab Kurds from Iraq's oil-producing north worry about the constitution's wording on the Arab identity of Iraq.
A constitutional reform committee was due to send a draft plan to reform the constitution to parliament today.
A Kurdish delegation is also in Baghdad for talks with the government to iron out last-minute disagreements on a revenue-sharing oil law.