Car bomb explodes near a funeral procession in Baghdad, injuring 65 people
Officials in Iraq say 33 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives near a funeral procession in south-east Baghdad.
Police said the attack happened at 11am local time on Friday in the capital's predominantly Shia Zafaraniya neighbourhood.
Half the dead were police officers who were guarding the march. A further 65 people, including 16 police officers, were injured. Hospital officials confirmed the death toll.
Salam Hussein, a 42-year-old grocery store owner in Zafaraniya said he was watching the funeral procession when the blast blew out his shop's windows, injuring one of his workers.
"It was a huge explosion," Hussein said. As he took his worker to the hospital, he saw cars engulfed in flames, "human flesh scattered around and several mutilated bodies in a pool of blood" around where the car had exploded, he said.
Talib Bashir, a 50-year-old Zafaraniya resident, said he was part of the funeral procession of about 500 men but had left the group to take his child home when he heard the blast.
"I saw smoke coming from a parked car that had exploded," Bashir said, adding that police and civilians cars, an ambulance and several stores were engulfed in flames. "The fire lasted for a long time," he added.
Minutes after the blast, gunmen opened fire at a checkpoint in Zafaraniya, killing two police officers, officials said.
Insurgents have stepped up violence in Iraq since the US military withdrawal last month. More than 200 people have been killed since the beginning of the year.