At least 20 people have been killed and dozens more wounded by a bomb that exploded among a crowd in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, security officials say.

The blast, which occurred around midday on Saturday, was so powerful it could be heard several kilometres away.

Qassim Attam, an army spokesman, said the explosion was in a car park used by commuters near a bus terminal in Kadhimiyah, northwest Baghdad, where people also gather at a Shia shrine on Saturdays.

It was not clear if the blast was a suicide attack and whether it was caused by a car bomb or a mortar round.

On Thursday, one person was killed and 14 others injured in another bomb attack in Kadhimiyah.

Kadhimiyah has suffered routine attacks and some of the deadliest incidents in the capital since the US-led invasion in 2003.

In a second attack on Saturday, three people were killed in Jurf al-Sakhar, on
Baghdad’s southern outskirts, as Iraqi soldiers and police were trying to defuse a roadside bomb.

Al Jazeera English – Middle East – Deadly blast hits Baghdad station