At least 15 people have died in a double car bomb attack on a mainly Shia area of Baghdad today.
The attack happened in the east of the capital, targeting weekend shoppers thronging shops and market stalls selling fruit and exotic birds.
Police said 15 people had been killed and 55 wounded in the quick-fire blasts at a street intersection.
The dead included at least two policemen, while four officers were among the wounded, according to police reports.
The burned-out hulks of cars and vans in the area and a bag of fruit were left among pieces of metal scattered on the ground.
A suicide car bomber plowed into the busy New Baghdad commercial area shortly after noon, near a major intersection lined with stores and kiosks selling food, clothes and household appliances.
A parked car bomb exploded shortly afterward as people converged on the area to help the victims or see what had happened - a common tactic in the relentless attacks by suspected Sunni insurgents.
Farooq Haitham, the 33-year-old owner of a watch repair shop, said the area had been targeted by many bombings in the past but shopkeepers had no choice but to keep opening their doors.
"This area has witnessed many explosions, but what can we do? We want to live, our need for money forces us to come again and work," Haitham said.
Meanwhile, US airstrikes killed 14 terror suspects and destroyed a safe house for foreign fighters during a raid south of Baqouba that also led to the capture of two other suspects, the military said.
The military said the raid was targeting a foreign fighter believed responsible for multiple attacks on Iraqi and coalition forces in the area. US and Iraqi forces have been battling Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias for months in the area around Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad.
Today's attack is the latest in a series of attacks against commercial targets this week, killing some 150 people since Sunday and signaling a tough battle ahead as US and Iraqi forces gear up for a planned security operation to pacify the capital.
In the worst attack this week, 88 people were killed in twin car bomb blasts in the Bab al-Sharji market in central Baghdad, an area home to both Sunni Arab and Shia traders.
Bombers struck a Shia shopping area in central Karrada district on Thursday, killing 26, and on Friday killed 15 people in an attack on the city's famous pet market.
Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has blamed many of the bombings on Sunni Arab militants and supporters of former President Saddam Hussein, whose botched execution last month angered many fellow members of his minority Sunni sect.