Baghdad market blast kills scores
A huge explosion has ripped though a busy Baghdad market, killing at least 60 people, officials say.
Nearly 80 others were injured in the car bomb attack in Sadr City, a Shia area frequently targeted by insurgents.
In a separate incident, a female Sunni MP and seven of her bodyguards were kidnapped, parliamentary sources said.
The new Iraqi government has been battling to improve security in the capital, repeatedly hit by car bombs and kidnappings.
The market attack is believed to be the worst single blast in Baghdad for weeks.
Reports say the car bomb was detonated as a police patrol passed, causing both police and civilian casualties amid scenes of carnage.
Around 20 vehicles were destroyed, along with many market stalls and shops, journalists at the scene reported.
Markets targeted
Markets have frequently been targeted by insurgents. In March three market blasts in Sadr City killed dozens.
On Monday, markets in two mainly Shia towns - Baquba, north-east of Baghdad, and Hilla, south of the capital - killed more than a dozen people.
A wave of attacks across Baghdad on 17 June, which killed more than 40 people, also included two markets among its targets.
The MP reported missing was named as Taiseer Najah al-Mashhadani, a member of the Iraqi Accordance Front, which is the largest parliamentary grouping of the Sunni community.
Clampdown
Three weeks ago the government of Prime Minister Nouri Maliki imposed a major security clampdown in Baghdad in a bid to stem the wave of attacks.
It was imposed only days after the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, died in a US air strike.
On Friday, Reuters news agency quoted US Army Col Jeffrey Snow as saying the number of attacks had risen since the clampdown was imposed.
As more security force patrols were on the streets, more attacks on them were being made, he said.
Last weekend, in a further bid to move the country away from violence, Mr Maliki unveiled a national reconciliation plan.
The 24-point plan offered an amnesty to some insurgents, and outlined plans to disarm militias and beef up Iraqi security forces ahead of a takeover from coalition forces.
The plan has been criticised by a leading Sunni group, the Association of Muslim Scholars, which said it was no more than a public relations exercise.