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BAGHDAD (AFP) - An explosion tore through a market in a flashpoint Baghdad district on Tuesday, killing at least 24 people and wounding dozens in the first massive car bomb to hit the capital in over two weeks.

Yarmuk hospital received 24 dead -- including four women, three children and six corpses burned beyond recognition -- and 39 wounded from the bombing in Amil, in southwest Baghdad, a medic said.

The vast majority of the wounded were women and children, said the hospital official, who asked not to be named. Defense and security officials put the toll at 25 dead and 60 wounded.