A car bomb exploded in a crowded market in Iraq's southern Shi'ite Muslim city of Kerbala today, killing at least eight people and wounding 31.
The blast hit Kerbala, among the holiest shrine cities for Shi'ites, soon after gunmen stormed a house near the city of Baquba north of Baghdad and killed 12 members of a Shi'ite family.
Iraqi leaders, fearful of civil war, have been trying to ease sectarian tensions since the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine in the northern city of Samarra on Wednesday triggered a wave of violence that has killed at least 200 people.
The car was parked on a main road in a crowded residential area in the west of Kerbala, witnesses said. It was detonated by remote control at around 11 am (8 am Irish time), when the street market was packed with weekend shoppers, the Kerbala police chief said.
Police General Razzak al-Ta'i told Al-Iraqiya Television that local people had reported a suspicious car and that it had blown up while police were checking it for explosives.
Kerbala police had detained a man they believe is behind the bombing and found explosives and weapons in his house, Gen Ta'i said.