In the deadliest attack since the beginning of the Iraq war, suspected Sunni-Arab militants used three suicide car bombs and two mortar rounds on the capital's Shia Sadr City slum to kill at least 160 people and wound 238 on Thursday, police said.
Shias responded almost immediately, firing 10 mortar rounds at the Abu Hanifa Sunni mosque, killing one person and wounding seven people in their attack on the holiest Sunni shrine in Baghdad.
Beginning at 3.10 pm, the three car bomb attackers blew up their vehicles one after another, at 15-minute intervals, hitting Jamila market, al-Hay market and al-Shahidein Square in Sadr City.
At about the same time, mortar rounds struck al-Shahidein Square and Mudhaffar Square, police said.
As the fiery explosions sent up huge plumes of black smoke over northeastern Baghdad, and left streets covered with burning bodies and blood, angry residents and armed Shia militiamen flooded the streets, hurling curses at Sunnis and firing weapons into the air.
Ambulances raced to the scenes and police Colonel Hassan Chaloub said the blasts destroyed many outdoor food stalls and parked cars and buses.