A least 121 dead, 200 injured in bombing of Shi'ite area of Baghdad; Deadliest bombing since invasion

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A huge truck bomb killed 121 people and wounded 226 in a busy market in a mainly Shi'ite area of central Baghdad on Saturday, in the deadliest single bombing in the capital since the 2003 U.S.-led war.

The blast in Sadriya shattered food stalls and smashed the facades of shops, setting some on fire. Three car bombs ripped through the same market in December, killing 51.

"It was a terrible scene. Many shops and houses were destroyed," said one resident, Jassem, 42, who had rushed from his home nearby to help pull people from the rubble after hearing the ear-splitting explosion.

The casualties swamped the capital's hospitals. There were chaotic scenes at Ibn al-Nafis hospital in central Karrada, where hallways overflowed with wounded on trolleys and relatives and friends screaming for help.

A U.S. intelligence report said on Friday that escalating violence between minority Sunni Arabs and politically dominant majority Shi'ites met the definition of civil war.

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