The truck detonated on the Jamila market in the predominantly Shiite Muslim district of Baghdad’s north-eastern Sadr City at about 6 a.m. local time.
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Smouldering ruins and charred wooden stalls, scattered with vegetables and debris, remained on Thursday morning as residents rushed to the scene to help those who survived.
It happened in the Sadr City neighbourhood in north-eastern Baghdad.
Rudaw’s reporter said the massive blast, which has been now claimed by the Islamic State, was the result of a refrigerated truck that was rigged with “tons” of explosives.
“This is the strongest explosion I ever saw in my life”, Hassan Hamid, 37, a minibus driver and father of three, told the Associated Press after Thursday’s attack. The plan was also backed by Iraq’s influential top Shiite cleric and US officials ahead of the vote.
Such attacks with large death tolls occur with sad regularity in and around Baghdad.
When they launched their major onslaught across northern Iraq last year, they vowed to continue on to Baghdad. But a mobilization of volunteer Shia fighters deterred any significant attacks on the capital. Iraqi forces are constantly battling to drive the jihadists back with support from a US-led coalition and Iran.
Earlier this week, a suicide auto bomb killed 61 people in the city of Baquba, 65 kilometers (40 miles) north of Baghdad.
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Iraq is now undergoing an upsurge in instability, with the government struggling to contend with the ISIL group.
