A truck bomb exploded in a fruits and vegetables market in Iraq late Thursday, killing at least 48 people.
ABC News reports that witnesses told police that a man parked the truck containing the bomb in the market and asked workers to unload the vegetables before leaving the vehicle. The officers originally said that the blast killed 31 people and left at least 45 wounded. Two medical officials confirmed the casualty figures.
A number of attacks have left Iraq reeling this week. Earlier Thursday, a suicide bomber set off his explosives-laden belt at an army checkpoint in the town of Taji north of Baghdad, killing 6 soldiers and wounding 12, a police officer and a medical official said to ABC News.
In addition, in Baghdad's northern Kasra neighborhood, a bomb attached to an army officer's car killed 1 and wounded 5; a car bomb and other explosions in the western Amiriyah neighborhood killed 8 and wounded 15; and gunmen reportedly attacked a supermarket in the southeastern Bayaa neighborhood, killing 2 owners and wounding 2 shoppers.
The news follows last week's bombing of a Shi'ite holiday service in Iraq, which left 41 dead. Iraq, like Syria, has been another battleground in the religious clashes between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims.
DNA India has confirmed United Nations estimates that the death toll in Iraq from the violent attacks is 5,800 since January 2013.