The death toll from three car bomb explosions in marketplaces in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood on Wednesday, rose to 41 and up to 68 people injured, an Interior Ministry source said.

Residents look at a burnt vehicle at the site of a bomb attack in Baghdad's Sadr City April 29, 2009. The toll from twin car bomb blasts on Wednesday in a busy market in Baghdad jumped to 41 killed and 68 wounded, Iraqi police said. [Xinhuanet.com]

"The latest reports said that 41 people were killed and some 68 others wounded by the three car bombings in Sadr City neighborhood," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Many women and children were among the victims, the source said.

Earlier, the source said 16 killed and 45 others injured by the blasts.

The incident occurred in the afternoon when three booby-trapped cars parked at different popular marketplaces in Sadr City neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, detonated simultaneously, the source said.

One of the car bombs detonated in the Souq Mreidy market, another at a pet market and the third at a separate market in the sprawling neighborhood, the source added.

Residents look at a burnt vehicle at the site of a bomb attack in Baghdad's Sadr City April 29, 2009. [Xinhuanet.com]

Iraqi security forces sealed off the scenes while ambulances and some civilian vehicles transferred the victims to nearby hospitals, he said.

Sadr City is a heavily populated Shiite neighborhood and is the main stronghold for Mahdi Army militia, loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2009)