BAGHDAD, Aug 30: Insurgents killed at least 77 Iraqis and wounded scores in a series of shootings and bombings on Wednesday, including one in a crowded Baghdad market and another at a military recruitment centre.

A blast in the Shurja market left 24 dead and 35 wounded and came just two hours after rebels targeted an Iraqi army recruitment centre in the town of Hilla, south of Baghdad, killing 12 volunteers and wounding 38.

The Baghdad market blast came despite a massive security crackdown in the Iraqi capital, rattling windows one kilometre away as a plume of dust and smoke climbed above the skyline.

Body parts were strewn across the area. Windows of nearby shops were shattered, two cars were ripped apart and a popular restaurant blown open.

“Firefighters are fighting to quell the fire as many shops are burning,” a police officer said at the scene, adding that the bomb had been placed in a bag and partially concealed by a bicycle.

“People are gathering the mobile phones and money of those killed and storing them in a nearby mosque. They were also collecting flesh and body parts in plastic bags,” he added.

In the day’s second biggest bombing, insurgents also used a bicycle to hide a bomb that exploded outside the army recruitment centre in Hilla.

The recruitment centre was set up four days ago to boost enlistments by youths from the mainly Shiite areas around Samawa, Karbala and Najaf, a police officer said.

A medic at Hilla’s city hospital said doctors had received 12 bodies and treated 38 people wounded in the attack.

Iraqi defence ministry spokesman Ibrahim Shaker also confirmed the bombing.

An AFP correspondent said at least 1,000 candidates had been waiting to sign up at the centre.

Amer Habib, a would-be soldier said: “The volunteers should have been searched before coming to this place. They should also not be allowed to stand outside the camp as it makes them easy prey for terrorists.

“We asked for that, but no one heard us,” he said.

US General George Casey, head of the coalition forces in Iraq, said Iraqi forces would need another “12 to 18 months” before “they can take on the security responsibilities for the country with very little coalition support”.

The carnage in Baghdad extended even to the Dura district, which has been chosen by US and Iraqi forces for special protection.—AFP