At least 41 people were killed and 68 wounded yesterday (April 29) when twin car bombs ripped through a busy market of Baghdad's Sadr City slum, mowing down families as they crowded around a popular ice cream parlour, police said.

A third car bomb planted in a taxicab in the mainly Shi'ite Muslim area was detonated by security forces, police said.

The blasts followed two days of suicide bombings last week in which 150 people died, stirring fears Iraq could descend into a new spiral of sectarian conflict just as the oil-producing nation appeared to be emerging from six years of bloodshed.

After yesterday's explosions, Iraqi troops fired shots to scatter bystanders crowded around charred wreckage. Angry residents threw stones and empty bottles at army vehicles, accusing the soldiers of failing to protect them.

'Instead of helping us to evacuate the wounded, they are shooting at us. This is the Maliki government?' one man, calling himself Abu Ahmed, shouted indignantly, criticising the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Much of the recent violence targeted Shi'ites, a tactic used by al Qaeda and other Sunni Islamist insurgents in an effort to provoke sectarian clashes.

Many of last week's victims were pilgrims from Shi'ite Iran, while the sprawling slum of Sadr City is a stronghold of support for anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Body parts lay scattered around the smoking wreck of a car after the blasts, while the wounded were piled into private cars, minibuses and on the back of a pick-up truck and rushed to hospital. Police vehicles cleared a way for the convoy.

The nearby shops set ablaze by one of the explosions included the popular Aziz al-Kaabi ice cream shop, which residents said is usually crowded with families in the late afternoon, the time the bombs went off.

The second car bomb appeared to have exploded around 60 metres (yards) away near a part of the market selling pets.

After the blast, people picked through hulls of burned-out vehicles and firefighters hosed down charred wreckage.

Fears of resurgent violence

'I hold the Iraqi government and the army responsible for this explosion because of its inadequate security work,' said Baha al-Araji, a parliamentarian loyal to Sadr.

The violence ignited by the 2003 US-led invasion has receded sharply over the past year but insurgents, including al Qaeda, still carry out frequent attacks.

Last week's explosions in northeastern Diyala province and in Baghdad, including at a revered Shi'ite shrine, stirred fears Iraq could slide back into broader conflict if Shi'ite gunmen launch a wave of reprisal killings against Sunnis.

In Hor Rijab, a Sunni village on the southwestern outskirts of Baghdad, five people were killed and five were wounded yesterday by a roadside bomb.

The government has pointed the finger at al Qaeda and members of Saddam Hussein's banned Baath party for last week's attacks. It has also warned that the capture of what it says is the leader of an al Qaeda-affiliated insurgent group, the Islamic State of Iraq, might provoke revenge attacks.

Many Iraqis also worry violence could increase as US forces prepare to withdraw from city bases by the end of June and ahead of national elections due at the end of the year.

The elections will be a major test for Maliki, whose popularity has grown as security improved.

Last year, Maliki waged major offensives against Shi'ite gunmen, and along with US forces reclaimed much of Sadr City from Sadr's Mehdi Army militia. – Reuters