The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Baghdad

An Iraqi police officer says a car bomb has exploded on the outskirts of Fallujah, killing two civilians and wounding four others.

The officer says the bomb exploded Sunday morning in a parking lot where farmers and other merchants gather to buy and sell goods.

Delivery trucks and other vehicles that do not have access permits for Fallujah are not allowed to drive into the city, which is west of Baghdad. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to release information to the news media.

AFP report adds: A massive bomb tore through a crowd gathered near a bus station in a Shiite neighbourhood of Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 22 people and wounding 54, security officials said.

"The toll in the Kadhimiyah explosion has risen to 22 killed and 54 injured," army spokesman Major General Qassim Atta told AFP.

He said the explosion occurred in a car park used by commuters near a key city bus terminal in the Shiite neighbourhood of Kadhimiyah, northwest Baghdad.

Initial Iraqi military reports said the source of the explosion was a car bomb. However, a statement from the US military identified the bomb as a homemade bomb and said 18 Iraqi civilians had been killed with 25 wounded.

Discrepancies in death tolls and the type of device used are common in Iraq.

An AFP photographer at the scene said the charred remains of one vehicle pointed to a car bomb. The force of the explosion was so powerful that body parts were scattered across houses and vehicles surrounding the site.

The blast, which occurred around midday (0900 GMT), echoed for kilometres (miles) across the embattled Iraqi capital.

Kadhimiyah, location of an important shrine where two respected Shiite imams are buried, has suffered routine attacks since the 2003 US-led invasion triggered vicious Sunni and Shiite sectarianism.

The level of violence in Baghdad has dropped in recent months but insurgents still seem able to strike at will despite the tight security measures in capital of seven million people.