At least 50 people were killed and many injured when a car bomb exploded outside an Iraqi police station south of Baghdad today.
US troops sealed off area around the station in Iskandariyah, 30 miles from the capital, and refused to allow journalists near the blast site.
However, hospital director Mr Razaq Jabbar said he had received 50 dead and 50 injured.
"This figure might increase," he said. "There were some body parts that haven't been identified yet. Some more bodies may be trapped under the rubble."
He said some of the victims were policemen "but many more were civilians applying for jobs and passers-by."
"There are around 50 martyrs, 30 of whom have been identified, and dozens wounded," Dr Tahsim Ahmad said at the hospital, near the site of the attack.
The hospital's director, Razak Jannabi, said: "Thirty dead have been brought here, I believe that number is rising. I believe it's at 49."
A Reuters reporter counted at least 20 bodies outside a hospital in the small town of Iskandariya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad.
"It was a car (bomb) that was parked outside the station," policeman Sadeq Khodeir told Reuters. "It brought down part of the building and the court house."
US troops cordoned off all roads leading to the blast site.
A suicide bomber blew himself up outside the house of a US-backed tribal leader in the restive town of Ramadi west of Baghdad earlier today, wounding four bodyguards.
The attacks followed a pattern of targeting Iraqis seen as collaborators with the US occupation. A twin suicide bombing in northern Iraq killed more than 100 people on February 1st.
The bombings targeted Iraq's two main Kurdish parties, which enjoy good ties to Washington.
Ramadi and neighbouring areas, at the heart of the so-called Sunni triangle where resentment of the United States is strongest, have seen scores of attacks on US forces and allied Iraqis. But areas south of Baghdad, like Iskandariya, have seen much less violence.