BAGHDAD, Nov 23: A bomb hidden in a box of birds killed 13 people and wounded 57 at a popular pet market in central Baghdad on Friday, police and witnesses said, describing the deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital in two months.

Body parts were strewn among bird carcasses as bystanders piled victims into carts and rushed them to ambulances after the blast at the Ghazil pet market, which was crowded at the time.

Police said four policemen were among the wounded.

The market attack was the worst since 32 people were killed by twin car bombs in the district of Bayaa in southwestern Baghdad on Sept 26 and could dent new-found confidence among Iraqis that security is getting better.

In the northern city of Mosul, two separate bombings killed seven people, police said.

A suicide car bomb targeting a police patrol killed five people, including two policemen, in the southeast of Iraq’s third-largest city, police said. Another two policemen were killed by a roadside bomb in the same area.

The pet market, a popular weekend spectacle, sells a colourful range of creatures from guard dogs and monkeys to parrots, pigeons and tropical fish.

It has been targeted several times in the past. Seven people were killed there in a blast in January, a month after three people were killed in another attack.

STAINED WITH BLOOD: Bystanders and stallholders covered their noses with masks because of the stench after the bombing. Salim said police fired into the air after the blast.

“We expected another explosion so we all ran away,” he told Reuters. “Then we went back to evacuate the wounded. I saw someone at a sandwich booth, he was burned completely, smoke was coming from his body. Another person lost both his legs.”Another witness, who did not give his name, said the bomb went off at about 9 am (0600 GMT) and had been hidden in a box used to keep birds sold at the market. He said he had helped remove about a dozen bodies.

“I have already changed my clothes, they were stained with blood,” he said.—Reuters