A car bomb in a crowded market in the southern Iraqi town of Hilla killed at least 12 people and wounded 47 today
Police sealed off the area of the car bomb explosion at a vegetable market as ambulances ferried the wounded to three hospitals. The attack came a day after three car bombs killed 95 north of Baghdad.
Violence has surged in recent days ahead of a referendum on October 15th on a new constitution for Iraq.
Insurgents are waging a campaign of suicide bombings, shootings and assassinations to try to topple Iraq's US-backed government.
The constitution vote has raised sectarian tension between Iraq's Shia majority and the Sunni Arab minority.
Five US soldiers were also killed yesterday in one of the deadliest bombings on the US military in weeks, near Ramadi, a bastion of Sunni Arab insurgency west of Baghdad.
In Washington, the US commander in Iraq told senators last night plans to cut troop numbers next year might be thwarted if violence continued through the referendum and an election due in December.
The number of Iraqi troops able to operate without US support had fallen to one battalion, he added.